An Unlikely Friendship
by IzzyMorgensternXX
Summary: Set before and during series 4. Jana/ Katrina friendship. Matei/Emilia/TJ friendship. Jatei (Jana/Matei) (Some possible spoilers for the show)
1. Chapter 1

Jana let her head slam down on the table again, aware of the fact that she'd spilt her cappuccino. Victoria had introduced her to Imara and TJ the night before and although she had stayed there that night, thanks to TJ she hadn't got to bed until the early hours of the morning, no matter how much his mum had yelled at him. Now Jana was torn between the need for caffeine and the knowledge that coffee wasn't really supposed to be a wild wolfblood beverage.

Ex- wild wolfblood, Jana half-heartedly corrected herself- why did it have to be a dark moon day as well?

"You'll give yourself a concussion," a familiar voice said.

Jana looked up, brushing her wild red curls out of her eyes, and smiled as she saw Katrina take the seat opposite her.

"You look exhausted Jana," Katrina noted in a kindly tone, "Is everything ok?"

Jana tried to swallow the lump in the throat, "Yeah, everything's great."

Katrina raised an eyebrow, "I know we've never been close but…"

"It's cool," Jana said quickly, grabbing her bag from where it sat on the table, "I'm late for work."

Katrina looked in confusion and sympathy as Jana raced towards the door. Jana had been down for quite a while, well ever since Rhydian had left two months ago, and then Shannon and Tom had moved for college… well Katrina thought, there was only one way to fix this.

BREAK

"I do hope you'll be a good influence on Terence," Imara said to Jana in her usual overly authoritive tone, "He has a tendency to go astray. He needs a good role model."

Jana nodded cautiously. She wondered why Imara thought she was so well behaved and smiled silently as the realisation came to her. Whilst Victoria and the other leaders of Segolia respected her, they also appreciated that she had a stubborn rebellious nature. They would never have told Imara that Jana was the poster girl for obedience. It had to be Jeffries, he'd written the reference for the job. Jana reminded her to thank him the next time she saw him.

"I do think we're making progress with Eolas," Imara continued, "I know you are still concerned but most of the members of our team have been living in the city all their lives. For decades. It may take us a while."

"I made a promise," Jana replied, "To Miss Sweeney. I intend to honour it. I promised her all the city wolfbloods would have Eolas. I'm going to make that happen."

Imara smiled, "I know you will. But please don't teach TJ. I don't need him any more distracted than he already is."

"What's he done now?" Jana asked with a questioning look.

"Nothing he hasn't done already, a hundred times," Imara said with a sigh, "You know what teenage boys can be like- when they think they like a girl…"

Jana nodded, trying to pretend that didn't sting one bit.

BREAK

"Looks like the fun police arrived," Mattei said with a cheeky grin, as he pointed to the red haired standing near the gates.

TJ let out a sad laugh, "I hope not. Though when Mum hears. I'm going to be grounded forever… you know it's all your fault right."

"How is it Mattei's fault?" Emilia said squaring up to TJ, flashing her wolfblood eyes at him, "You would have been in far more trouble if…"

"Emilia," Mattei said, stepping in front of his sister, "He's only joking. Anyway I'd like to meet this Jana at some time. She sounds interesting."

"You're really not her type, mate," TJ said, before jumping almost a mile into the sky as a hand tapped him on the shoulder.

"Maybe, Terence," Jana began, "You should spend less time worrying about what my type is and more time worrying about what your mother's going to say when we get back to the car."

"I'll leave you two to it," Mattei said, with a sarcastic wave as him and his sister walked away.

TJ let out a sigh, "I thought you were on my side. You seemed pretty cool last night. I thought we were going to be great mates."

"Well if you think you're going to just treat me like any of the other girls you hang out with…"

"No, no, it's cool," TJ said quickly, raising his palms in surrender, "I know all about your scary father."

Jana rolled her eyes, "Just get in the car."

BREAK

"You want to do what?" Kay asked as she sorted through the selection of fabrics she had just bought for the upcoming charity fashion show.

"Yeah," Katrina said nodding, "I think Jana's depressed."

"She's just pining after Rhydian," Kay said, "Trust me, now Jana out in the big wide world she'll soon find a new boy to obsess over."

Katrina shrugged, "It's not just Rhydian. Shannon and Tom left last week. Jana alone here. She looks like she's moved to the city, and now so have we. I just feel bad. Here we are living together, in this gorgeous flat, and half her friends are living on the other side of the world."

"Ok, I do get it," Kay replied, "But this is Jana we're talking about. She threw spaghetti at me."

"Yeah, Jana has her crazy moments," Katrina argued, "And she is a little bit, well, weird. But that doesn't mean she should just be alone. I'd feel bad if we just abandoned her. And she did stick up for Tallulah."

Kay laughed, "Good old unpredictable Jana."

Katrina laughed, "Unpredictable, yes, except for when it comes to one thing. Which is why this plan is just totally going to work."

"Ok, fine," Kay argued, "Just as long as she doesn't do anything to weird."

BREAK

Jana could hear a strange noise coming from behind her, and tried her best not to laugh. She swiftly turned around and punch the approaching figure in the guts.

"Jana, really?" TJ asked, rubbing his stomach, grimacing.

Jana laughed, "I told you wild wolfbloods have superior hearing to tames."

"Yeah, yeah," TJ replied, "Rub it in why don't you. You were absolutely no help at all. I'm grounded for a fortnight, and I'm not going to Norway either."

"You deserved it," Jana answered, "You almost set the school on fire trying to light those candles. And anyway, your mum said you're not transforming this month, so do you really want to spend all the trip standing around in the cold doing nothing?"

TJ sighed, "I hope I transform next month."

"You should be glad that you don't have to worry about wolfing out," Jana replied, "You don't know how many times I accidentally wolfed out at school."

"You know you're supposed to be the good influence, right?" TJ joked.

Jana shrugged, "Apparently."

"Well considering you're not actually a goody goody," TJ began, "And that we're sort of house mates…well you know tomorrow…"

"Don't push your luck, Terence," Jana began, "I'm not covering for you if you're going to harass that girl again. And you're mum said you're grounded anyway."

"But Jana," TJ whined, "I know mum's your boss but still…"

"Yeah, she is my boss," Jana said nodding, "And I have no intention of getting fired."

"I know, I know," TJ began, "But we're teenage wolfbloods, no one else can understand what that's like."

"Not even your friends at school?" Jana queried.

"Mr Popular and I are two very different teenagers," TJ answered, "You can't even begin to understand."

"Mr Popular?" Jana asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Long standing joke," TJ answered, "He wants to meet you but I already told him you weren't interested."

Jana rolled her eyes, "Whatever."

"Have you heard from them?" TJ asked cautiously, he'd seen Jana tense up before when he'd mentioned her friends.

Jana sighed, "The Wi-Fi at Maddy's house is rubbish and Shannon and Tom said they'd call on the weekend. It's ok, I'm tired, see you in the morning."

"Yeah, good night Jana," TJ answered in a worried, quiet voice.

BREAK

"One of your most loyal customers?" Kay asked as a familiar face walked through the door.

Katrina rolled her eyes, "Yes, but he's a terrible flirt. I've seen him chatting probably ten girls since the Kafe opened. But I think he's actually alright, despite all of that."

"Hey!" Kay yelled, "How are you?"

"Good as always, ladies," TJ said, as he sat down at the counter, "You're friends of Jana's right. It's just she mentioned you before…"

"You know Jana?" Kay asked curiously.

"Are you two dating?" Katrina asked shocked.

"What? No." TJ replied in confusion, "She's just my housemate. She works for my mum, moved in a couple of nights ago."

"Wow," Katrina answered, "Well that explains why she's been hanging around here a lot."

"So what is it you want to know?" Kay asked.

TJ shrugged awkwardly, "I dunno. It's just Jana seems a bit upset about something. I mean I know her friends have left but…"

"I know what you mean," Katrina replied, "That's why we're organising a surprise."

"I'm not sure Jana's the kind of person who likes surprises," TJ began.

"Oh, don't worry she'll definitely like this one," Kay answered.

BREAK

"You know I don't believe you," Emilia answered, "You've only know her for a week."

"Since when did you become such an expert on dating," TJ argued.

"I might only be twelve," Emilia argued, "But I know that no sane person goes out with someone they've only know for a week."

"Whatever fluffball," TJ answered.

"You better be careful or I'll tell my brother what you just called me," Elena threatened.

"Yeah, good old Mr Popular," TJ answered.

TJ had known the Covaci siblings since they were little. They'd lived in an old farm house out on the moors before the fire. Now they lived in city with their foster parents. Elena was cool most of the time, but could be very fiery when something irritated her. As for Mr Popular, he was the stereotypically over protective brother.

"Rumour is that you've got an actual real life girlfriend now," Mattei said as he joined them where they were standing next to the lockers.

TJ nodded as Emilia rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"It's the red haired girl, isn't it?" Mattei asked.

TJ nodded, "Yeah, sorry mate."

Elena shook her head, "Whatever."

"Well good luck to Jana," Mattei began, before noticing that Emilia had ducked behind him as a group of year eleven girls approached them.

"Ew, look at her," one of them commented, "She should be locked away."

"Yeah, I know right," another added with a sickening laughing.

Emilia growled miserably as her brother hugged her tightly.

"I wish they would shut up," Emilia said venomously, "I wish I could just transform and… I wish mum and dad were still here…"

"So do," Mattei agreed, ruffling her hair, "So do I."


	2. Chapter 2

"You do realise that the surprise is supposed to be for Jana, right?" Matei began as he walked through the school corridors, Emilia and TJ walking next to him.

"Yeah, I know but-," TJ began defensively.

"And that this supposed to cheer Jana up," Emilia added, "So she's not going appreciate you gate crashing."

"Yes, this is supposed to be just for her old school friends," Matei continued, "Besides it's not like you go without anyway-."

"Exactly," Emilia agreed.

TJ sighed loudly, "First, my mum, now you two as well. Why doesn't anyone stick up for me?"

"I don't know what you're complaining about," Emilia answered, "Apparently you actually have a real life girlfriend now."

"Yeah, yeah, I do," TJ answered quickly.

"And if you do have a real life actual girlfriend," Matei continued, "And that real life actual girlfriend is Jana. Well Katrina and the others aren't going appreciate-."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," TJ said, "But Jana's not big on PDAs anyway."

Matei nodded disbelievingly, "If that's what you're calling it."

Emilia smiled, "Don't be rude to TJ. He's been having a hard time recently."

"Yeah, your foster parents are so laid back about everything," TJ continued, "You're so lucky-."

Matei looked away quietly.

"He didn't mean it like that," Emilia reassured her brother.

"I know," Matei continued, "I just don't like being reminded of how different we are from everyone else."

BREAK

"You ordered how much, Katrina?!" Kay exploded as she saw the receipt on the kitchen side.

"Kay, it's supposed to be a surprise!" Katrina replied, "How can it be surprising if we don't order a lot?"

Kay rolled her eyes, "I think you're taking this too far."

"Look," Katrina began, "I text Tom, who called Rhydian and Maddy, and they all said it was a great idea and that Jana would love it. Yes, we've had our differences but Jana has to put up with TJ all the time. I feel sorry for her."

"And that's why you ordered even more?" Kay asked.

Katrina nodded, "Because now Jana's not just depressed about her friends leaving. She's also got to deal with TJ, and you know how much of a pain he can be."

BREAK

"Since when did you learn how to cook?" TJ asked.

"Erm, since your mum said we couldn't have pizza every night," Jana replied, watching the pasta to make sure it didn't boil over.

"Pizza's my speciality," TJ argued.

"Yes, you're especially good at ordering from Domino's online," Jana said with a sarcastic nod.

"Who was it who introduced you to cheese free pizzas?" TJ asked, "You'd still be complaining about them being 'melted' if it wasn't for me."

"That's because the cheese ones do taste melted," Jana argued, "Anyway, eating pizza all the time doesn't make wolfbloods healthy. Too much human food is bad for us."

"Here we go again," TJ said rolling his eyes, "Wolfbloods shouldn't eat this, wolfbloods shouldn't eat that-."

"But it's true," Jana argued, "Wolfbloods evolved to eat meat not chocolate. Human food isn't right for us-."

"Says the girl cooking pasta," TJ argued.

Jana flashed her wolfblood eyes at him before smiling, "Ok, ok. I know. But I can only cook pasta. I can barely even figure out how this electric cooking thingy works. And there's no way you'd eat raw meat-."

"Too right," TJ replied, "It sounds vile."

"Actually raw deer is quite nice," Jana contemplated.

"Of course a little wolfblood alpha princess would eat raw deer," TJ answered.

"Don't push it, Terence," Jana argued.

"Are you actually threatening me with a wooden spoon?" TJ asked.

Jana rolled her eyes, before sighing, "I do miss the wild, a little."

"A nagging father, no hot water, no bed, no chocolate, no TV" TJ replied, "I'd never go wild."

"And I said I'd never go tame," Jana answered, "I do like tame life. But running free…"

TJ smiled, "I know and I haven't even transformed yet. I'm so jealous of Matei and Emilia they have this secret place up on the moors where they go- up by these old ruins. And their foster parents never check up on them. Matei's got them convinced that every full moon he and Emilia stay over at a friend's house to attend a study club."

Jana laughed, "Well if it works…"

"I know we get to go to Norway," TJ continued, "But that's only if we don't misbehave and well you know how I'm always in trouble. It's going to be the cellar for me, I guess."

"Maddy and her parents always transformed in a cellar," Jana replied, "Even Rhydian did sometimes. Now of course they are in Canada."

"Hey," TJ said, "You'll get to see them soon. I'm sure."

Jana smiled, "I hope so."

BREAK

"So it's agreed," Katrina said to TJ over the phone, "Saturday, 7pm, the Kafe. Just say that your cousin is coming down for the weekend and has agreed to meet you here because it's closer to the train station."

"But if that were the case mum would pick them up," TJ argued, "No, I'll just pull the old I'm in a skate park trick. Jana always finds me."

"Just make sure she's here," Katrina replied.

 _Thanks for the reviews. Apologies for accidentally calling Emilia Elena._

 _Cecilia- I ship Matei and Jana too, especially after episode 2 (and also after watching the party scenes in the extended trailer where he's smiling at her and holding her hand). It's difficult because TJ and Jana do have good chemistry and are closer but Jana did Ancean for Matei, so they have a deeper emotional connection._


	3. Chapter 3

Matei laughed as he noticed who was calling him, "Guess the epic plan failed then?

On the other end of the phone there was a sigh and Matei tried to stop himself from bursting out laughing. Of course, Jana hadn't fallen for either of TJ's stupid plans. Imara had practically destroyed the cousin alibi by saying that some of TJ's family would in fact be visiting the following week. And as for the skate park trick…

It was 6:45pm on a Saturday… TJ's curfew was 9pm on Fridays and Saturdays, Jana wouldn't bother to start searching for him just yet.

Matei smiled, "But I thought you two were inseparable? What do you mean you can't find her anywhere?"

"Trouble in paradise?" Emilia asked, as she was helping to prepare dinner for her foster parents and brother.

Matei gave her a Cheshire cat type grin.

"Well how am I supposed to call her when I don't have her phone number?" he continued, "No, TJ, just shut up. If you want me to help you then now is not the time to accuse me of trying to steal 'your girl'."

Emilia raised her eyebrows questioningly.

"Look, you need to figure this out," Matei replied, "I don't even really know Jana. I don't I've even talked to her once. It would just be creepy… well it's your own fault if Katrina's going to kill you. Chao, lover boy."

"Lover boy?" Emilia asked, with a grin, "You're a fine one to talk."

"Oh, yeah," Matei answered, "I forgot my twelve year old sister was the expert on relationships."

"It's not hard to be the expert," Emilia continued, "You and TJ are hopeless. It's obvious that TJ and Selena have like each other since like, forever. And as for you…"

"Yes?" Matei asked questioningly.

Emilia sighed, "Well if TJ comes through on his promise, and we get to ask Jana to help us… well I guess we'll have to just see what happens from there."

"What do you mean she's not here?" Katrina asked wielding a pizza cutter menacingly.

"Chill, its only 6:59," TJ argued, "Give her another minute."

"Another minute!" Katrina yelled exasperatedly.

"Look, it's fine," Kay reassured her, "We haven't even really set up yet. And Katrina, are you seriously going to use a pizza cutter to carve a chicken?"

Katrina shrugged, "It was the only thing I could find. And Kay, I'm panicking now, Shannon and Tom arrived a few minutes ago and if Jana doesn't turn up…"

"Wait," TJ said suddenly, "There's one more trick I can try."

"Wait, hold up!" Jana yelled into her phone, "What do you mean my father just turned up at the Kafe? No, TJ, this isn't great. This is my dad we're talking about! He's not going to just pop in there for a quick espresso, you know he can't control his wolf as well as the others can. What if he wolfs out and then…? No, no, no. You have to do something. I swear I'll be there as soon as I can."

Jana cussed silently. This couldn't be happening. Yes, her father had promised to visit. But he wouldn't visit now, would he? He'd at least send a sign. Jana sighed loudly and began running. If her dad was really there, what on earth would everyone say? Jana raced as hard as she could across the bridges towards the small café. The evening air and the pollutants of the nearby factories and cars pressed down on her- even just in the few days that she'd moved to the city Jana could notice a chance in herself. Her breathing wasn't as deep, and she couldn't run as fast as normal. Good red meat would fix that, Jana thought with a smile, that's what Aran would say if he was here. Gods, she missed her pack.

Jana burst through the door of the Kafe but inside it was pitch black. She turned this way and that not allowing her eyes enough time to adjust fully, but knew there was no sign of smashed glass or broken plates. No sign at all of a wolfblood being there. No sign of her father at all.

"SURPRISE!" she heard about fifty people yell at once and Jana jumped, accidentally hitting her arm on the back of a chair.

"What the…?" Jana began as she noticed Katrina and Kay and several other friends for school, including Tom and Shannon.

"Now, don't be mad Jana," Tom began, "We know you don't really like surprises but…"

"I swear you will love this one," Shannon continued.

Jana brushed the tears out of her eyes and hugged her friends tightly. Soon they were all crying and all just so happy to have the pack reunited again.

"Rhydian and Maddy didn't know your new address," Shannon began, passing Jana a large parcel, "But when they heard that you weren't yourself, and when you didn't come to Canada with us…"

Jana smiled as she saw Rhydian's awful attempt at wrapping and the little paw prints on the paper. Inside was a large blank notebook- a journal- with two massive grey wolves on the cover and there was another smaller black box with a wolf charm necklace inside.

There was a card too and Jana recognised both Rhydian and Maddy's handwriting,

'Hi Jana!

Sorry you couldn't visit us last month but I promise that we'll all meet up for Christmas, you can't even imagine what the winter in Canada is like. It'll be a ton better than even Snowdonia. Tom and Shannon said you've been upset recently and that the Ks were throwing a party for you. It only seemed right to get you something as a congratulations on your new job.

Hope to see you soon

Maddy'

'Hi Jana!

How are you? Tom and Shannon said you were upset. You should call more often. Any time you need to call, I swear it will be ok. I don't want you being miserable.

I hope you'll visit us soon, this is so much better than Snowdonia, but of course don't ever tell Aran and Meinir that, they think Wales in the land of the gods. Seriously, you need to visit, too much city life isn't good for a wild wolfblood.

I hope you like the gifts.

Miss you

Lots of Love

Rhydian.'

Jana tried to hold back the tears in her eyes and failed miserably. Gods, she missed Rhydian and Maddy. She would have to go and visit them soon.

"Hey, cheer up," Katrina said with a kind-hearted smile, "This is the best part."

Shannon and Tom lead Jana into the main seating area of the Kafe where several table had been placed together and on them was piled plates of all kinds of meat. Jana suddenly felt ravenous and she heard a laugh behind her.

"Look don't kill me ok," TJ began defensively, "I just had to come up with something and that's all I could think of at the time…"

Jana smiled, "TJ, it's ok, I'm so surprised that everyone went to such trouble. I mean… I don't deserve this."

"You're our friend, Jana," Tom began, "You're a part of our p-."

"Our family," Shannon corrected quickly, "We're a family really. And a family looks out for each other. We didn't want you to feel abandoned and out here on your own. Especially not if you really really need us…"

"And you know you always talk to us about anything," Katrina added.

Jana smiled, "Thank you, you guys are amazing."

"Yeah, yeah," TJ said nonchalantly, "Let's just eat shall we."

Matei held the necklace in the palm of his hand again.

Soon, he promised himself, he would have the answers soon.

He watched as Emilia slept peacefully on the couch and hated the idea of having to wake her up. But he knew she would wake up soon anyway. The nightmares always came every night

And that's why he needed the answers.

And that's why he allowed himself to revisit those events in his mind, even though they hurt him so much.

And that's why he needed Jana.

Even if it scared him to admit it.


	4. Chapter 4

Emilia swiped the BBQ beef flavoured popcorn out her brother's hand earning an exasperated sigh from it.

"What?" she asked with raised eyebrows, "You've been hogging it all this time."

Matei rolled his eyes, "No, I haven't and besides you ate all of the chocolate."

"Did not," Emilia argued.

"This movie is totally unrealistic," Matei began, "A border collie wouldn't be able to travel that far, it's fine for a wolfblood, but a border collie, seriously?"

"It's my movie night," Emilia replied, "So I get to choose the movie. If I say we're watching Lassie, then we're watching Lassie. Anyway it's better than what you chose last week."

Matei rolled his eyes, "You're just too young to appreciate Star Wars. If you watched again I'm sure you'd love it."

"And I'm sure you'd love Lassie too, if you actually tried," Emilia responded.

"Amanda!" Matei yelled out with a smile, "Emilia's picking on me again."

Emilia rolled her eyes just as their foster mum appeared in the door way of the sitting room. Amanda was tall and slim with curly brown shoulder length hair and kind blue eyes. Although she was a human she reminded Emilia and Matei a lot of their birth mother, both in terms of personality and looks.

"Well that's what happens when you wind up your little sister," Amanda said, high fiving Emilia, "Now bed at half-nine, you know the rules on schooldays and call us if you're worried about anything."

"It's ok, I'm sixteen now," Matei responded, "I can look after Emilia."

"I know you can," Amanda said with a smile, hugging her foster son, "But it's the first time I've left you two on your own. Part of me still wishing I called a babysitter, just to be on the safe side. It's not that I don't trust you two…"

"I understand," Emilia answered, "You just want to protect us."

Amanda smiled, "Well, you two have a good night and don't eat too many sweets. There's some left over pasta bake in the fridge, so make sure you both have a good dinner, ok?"

"Amanda," their foster father, John, said, passing her a long grey coat, "They're not babies. You've got this, haven't you Matei?"

Matei nodded, "Everything will be fine."

"Come on," John said to Amanda, "We don't want to be late."

Amanda rushed in quickly to hug and kiss Emilia and Matei goodbye.

Matei waited for the door to close before speaking.

"Forty minutes till moon rise," Matei said, smiling.

Nothing was better than running free.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"Hi," Jana said to Katrina as she walked into the Kafe and took a seat and the counter.

"The usual?" Katrina asked.

"Yes, please," Jana said with a smile, "Thank you for Saturday. You didn't have to go to all that trouble."

"That's ok, Jana," Katrina replied, "We're both new to the city. We've got to stick together."

Jana smiled, before sipping at her cappuccino, trying not to pay attention to how hot it was- she was already running late.

"So how is working at the Kafe?" Jana asked.

"It's great," Katrina replied, "Kay usually comes on Monday nights to help out. She'll be here in a little bit."

Jana glanced down at her hands and quickly shoved them in her coat pockets, praying that her eyes wouldn't turn yellow any time soon.

"Tell her I'm sorry," Jana replied, absentmindedly reaching for her cappuccino, "I got the night shift again."

"That sucks," Katrina answered, "Wait Jana, what's wrong with your hand?"

Jana almost knocked over her coffee cup in shock, "Oh that. TJ thought it would be funny to draw on me in permanent marker whilst I was sleeping."

Katrina shook her head laughing, "Seriously, that boy."

Jana smiled, "I know, I know. I've got to head off to work now, have a good evening."

"You too," Katrina said.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"You cut that a bit fine young lady," Imara said as Jana closed the front door behind her and raced through the kitchen towards the cellar.

"I'm sorry," Jana answered, "I promise it won't happen again."

Imara smiled, "I trust you."

Jana smiled in reply.

"How comes Jana can get away with murder?" TJ asked, grabbing some leftover chicken from the fridge, "If that was me…"

"Jana is responsible," Imara argued, "She's never been late for work. You've broken more times than I care to remember."

Jana swiped some chicken as she walked past, "Good night, Terence."

TJ rolled his eyes, "Just you wait until next full moon."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"Are you sure we're not going to be seen?" Emilia asked as they crouched in between the trees, her hands were already covered in black veins, and she knew her eyes were already bright yellow. At twelve she should have been too young to transform, but some googling from Matei had helped them solve that question. Trauma could cause a wolfblood to transform earlier than normal, and usually girls reached their first transformation before boys anyway.

Matei nodded, "Who would come here after dark?"

"You remember what happened last time?" Emilia asked, "We should have gone to our den again. At least we know that place is safe."

"Amanda and Jon will be back at eleven," Matei replied, "And they were starting to get suspicious about the study club alibi. This was a quick fix."

"And what if Amanda checks in on us?" Emilia asked.

"She knows you're a light sleeper," Matei argued, "She won't want to disturb you. I put some clothes under the blankets to make it look like you."

Emilia rolled her eyes, "Was that really the best you could do? And what about you?"

"You went to sleep early, I went downstairs to get a drink of water," Matei explained, "I dropped the glass and cut my hand, so I text them to say that I was going to the hospital."

"But Amanda will just go the hospital," Emilia replied, "You really didn't think this through, did you?"

"My plan's going to just have to work," Matei said, looking down at his bandaged hand, "I'll drop you off at home once the moon sets and then I'll head straight there."

"She'll text you," Emilia continued, "You can't reply with your paws."

"No phones on in hospitals," Matei explained in a tone of slight arrogance.

Emilia nodded, "Ok, well it's too late now anyway."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"And in more news," the presenter continued, "Two wolves were spotted in Newcastle in the Gateshead area last night. Animal welfare charities in the area are warning people not to approach the animals, as wolves can be very dangerous, especially if hungry or threatened. It is believed that they are escaped pets…"

"Who would put us at risk like that?" Imara asked rhetorically.

"Are you sure it's not just normal wolves?" TJ asked.

"What would the chances be of normal wolves just turning up on the night of the full moon in Newcastle?" Jana asked, before biting into a piece of toast.

TJ stared at Jana with an amused look on his face.

"Jana's right," Imara continued, "The chances of that happening are too low. I'll check with in with the other teams and see if they have any information.

Jana nodded, before looking at TJ with narrowed eyes, "What?"

"You don't put peanut butter and ketchup together, Jana," TJ said with a grimace.

"Human food," Jana said rolling her eyes, "It still tastes good though. Anyway, I know it was Matei and Emilia last night. You need to talk to them… I thought they had this all sorted."

"I know," TJ said, "So did I? But there's something you need to know about Matei Covaci."

"He has a crush on me, doesn't he?" Jana asked, with raised eyebrows.

"Sort of, maybe, I don't know," TJ replied, "But Matei, he's not like other wolfbloods. You see most of us, at least most of us tames, we don't think we're better than humans or other wolfbloods. Hey don't give me that look Jana, you told me yourself that you used to call them baldies and cowarers. Well Matei, he's part of this group of young wolfbloods, they use these online forums to chat- they think that they are superior to humans and that wolfbloods should rule the world."

"Matei?" Jana asked puzzled, "Part of a wolfblood illuminati? I don't think so, TJ. He sounds like he's an alright guy."

"Have you even actually spoken to him?" TJ asked.

"No, but he did look at me once," Jana argued, "He looked at me very nicely."

TJ nodded, "Right. Well I'll speak to him later. I'm going to be late for school."

"Just tell them to behave," Jana replied, "And if they want to speak to me…"

"You want me to give your number to Matei?" TJ asked incredulously.

"If they need to contact me, then make sure they can," Jana answered.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"It's just not like him," Amanda answered, brushing the tears out of her eyes, "What if they send him away? He's my son, I can't lose him."

John smiled sympathetically, "This stuff happens all the time. Their social worker didn't even seem concerned. I guess he just didn't want to worry Emilia by waking her up. And we all know how busy that hospital gets. I'm just glad he's going to be ok."

Amanda brushed a hand through Matei's hair as he slept on the sofa, "This was exactly what I feared."

"It could have happened to anyone," John argued, "Let him have the day off, he's exhausted."

"Emilia still has nightmares," Amanda began, "Matei seems different too."

"He's growing up, Amanda," John answered, "And Emilia will be ok. They've been through a lot. But they have a family here."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

The flames nearly blinded him, but he could still make out the shapes of two people lying flat on the ground, one inside his father's study and one outside. He already knew they were gone.

Behind him he could hear coughing and ran towards the sound. Picking up Emilia he ran towards the window and punched it to create a space big enough to jump out of. He landed painfully on the ground- a good ten metre drop from the window. Far even, for a wolfblood.

He cried loudly, holding Emilia in his arms. The skin on her hands and face was bright red and she was still coughing.

"Please, Emilia," Matei begged, "You can't, you can't, please."

Emilia opened her eyes slowly, "Matei. What's going on? Where's Mum and Dad?"

Matei woke up with a supressed scream and reached for the ring.

Brushing the tears out of his eyes he crept out of his room and across the hallway to Emilia's.

She sat wide awake and smiled as she saw him.

"You too?" she asked quietly.

Matei nodded, brushing the tears out his eyes.

"I promise, it will all be ok soon," he reassured her, "Jana will fix everything."


	5. Chapter 5

"What do you mean he wasn't at school?" Jana exploded as she cooked dinner for TJ and herself.

"Wait don't get all angry with me," TJ began defensively, "Emilia was there but she said that Matei was sick."

"Sick?" Jana asked in panicked voice, "What with?"

"I don't know, a cold, maybe," TJ continued, "Why do you care so much anyway?"

Jana shrugged, "I just don't like the idea of anyone being sick."

"Really?" TJ said with raised eyebrows, "Do you not realise just how lame that sounded?"

"Not as lame as half the stuff you say to Selina," Jana retorted, "So what did Emilia say?"

TJ shrugged, "They went to the den but then Matei cut his hand on some glass and had to go to the hospital."

"So he cut his hand and now he's sick?" Jana asked panicked, "Have Segolia been contacted? Why did he go to the hospital if he's a wolfblood, he could have been caught?"

"Matei kind of wants to be caught," TJ began, "Remember what I said before Matei wants to be some wolfblood overlord. He thinks wolfbloods should take their rightful place in society."

"Rightful place in society?" Jana asked with raised eyebrows.

TJ nodded, "He thinks he should be able to run free all the time and that humans should know about wolfbloods and it shouldn't matter if they're afraid of us or not…"

"What?" Jana exploded almost knocking over the pot of boiling water.

"Hey, careful," TJ said, jumping up, "Let me handle this."

Jana sat down at the table, and placed her head in her hands, sighing loudly, "So for all we know Matei might be at home with a badly infected wound and chatting online to his wolfblood overlord friends about world domination. We need to talk to their parents."

"We can't," TJ began hesitantly.

"Look I know Imara is strict about your curfew-," Jana began, looking in her pockets for her phone.

"I mean we can't talk to their parents because," TJ began, "Their parents are dead. They died in a house fire. They live with human foster parents."

Jana let out a string of expletives.

"Wait they teach that kind of language in wild wolfblood packs?" TJ asked looking impressed.

Jana sighed, "So they were in a house fire?"

TJ nodded, "Happened a couple of years ago. No one knows how exactly. All we know is that Matei and Emilia escaped by jumping from a window. She was badly burnt and Matei was hurt in the fall. Segolia helped smooth things over with social services- told them that Emilia and Matei had private healthcare insurance so that they could be treated at Segolia and then arranged for them to live with some of their human employees- they are not in the know however."

Jana felt a pang of painful sympathy in her gut, "Why wouldn't they tell their foster parents?"

TJ shrugged, "No one knows. Maybe they thought they'd be a good influence on Matei. He already had a reputation by then and his parents were apparently a little unorthodox. Wolfblood purists- apparently they were born wild, something like that."

Jana nodded, "A bit like my father I guess."

TJ nodded, "That's the impression I got."

"I'm still going around there," Jana said grabbing her bag.

"What about dinner?" TJ asked, gesturing to the pot on the stove.

"This is more important than food," Jana replied angrily.

"Wow, this is serious then," TJ answered, "Nothings usually more important than food to a wolfblood."

"Look, I don't care if Matei is some wolfblood Darth Vader," Jana argued, "And as long as he doesn't go running on the streets again then it's all fine by me but if he's suffering…"

"Holy Mother of Wolfbloods!" TJ exclaimed, "All this for a boy you've never even met."

Jana looked TJ in the eyes exasperated, "Look I can't let him suffer. He's already been through the worst hell a wolfblood can experience and he's needs someone to be there for him, to teach him that the world is a good place and he doesn't need to be defensive and afraid and that not all wild wolfbloods think the way his parents did or even have to think that way… I have to help him, I have to."

TJ smiled, "Ok, ok. If only Mr. Popular knew how flustered you were getting about him."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"I don't understand," Emilia began confused, "Transforming should have healed the wound."

"I didn't make the wound before I transformed," Matei began, trying to pull the blanket over his head again to block out the painful sunlight, "I had to make it believable."

"You idiot!" Emilia yelled, "Now look at you! You're burning up! We need to get you to Segolia."

"I'm fine," Matei complained, "I'm just warm."

"No, you're not," Emilia argued, "And if Amanda sees you like this… she'll take you straight to hospital herself and then the secret will be out. You have to trust me, we have to go to Segolia. Or at least call Jana."

"Jana," Matei said wearily, agreeing, "Call TJ, he'll call her. Tell her to get here soon."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"13 Glenn Gardens," Jana announced as she saw the sigh on the door, "This is the right address, isn't it?"

TJ nodded, "I can't believe I actually helped you Facebook stalk, Matei, and then search through his Segolia records. There's got to be so many rules against that."

"Enough," Jana snapped, before sniffing the air. Two wolfbloods, but the scent of one of them was odd.

"Matei is actually sick," Jana confirmed, "I can tell. I know the scent from when I was in the wild pack. I wonder why he hadn't gone to Segolia. Maybe he's too ill…"

Jana jumped as the door suddenly swung open to reveal a small girl. She was no more than twelve with long straight brown hair and inquisitive brown eyes. There were scars on her right cheek and neck and she wore gloves even though she was indoors. She smiled as she saw Jana, a familiar smile that reminded Jana of the wolfblood upstairs.

"We were just about to call you," Emilia began, "Matei-."

"I know," Jana began, following her and TJ into the house, "Where is he?"

"Upstairs, first door on the left," Emilia said, before leading the way, "And excuse the mess. He might be a wolfblood, but he's still a boy."

"So what happened last night?" TJ asked.

"We wolfed out on the moors like usual," Emilia began, "But I came home at three with Matei before he ran off to the hospital. Our foster parents were beginning to get suspicious about the homework club alibi. Matei had to think of something on the spur of the moment. Our foster parents were supposed to be out on a date night until eleven. He text them just before moonrise to tell them he'd hurt his hand and was going to the hospital."

"But moonrise was at nine," TJ began puzzled, "How did he get away with that?"

"He went to the main hospital," Emilia began, "It's always busy, apparently you have to wait for hours in A&E."

Jana sighed, "Well next time come up with something better. Preferably something that doesn't make you sick."

"You know you could have just said you were at mine," TJ argued, "Mum and I would have covered for you."

Emilia shrugged, "Matei said to leave the plan to him. I'm just as annoyed too."

Jana smiled at the young girl before noticing her brother. He looked like he was fast asleep but he was restless and obviously feverish.

"Have you give him anything?" Jana asked, kneeling down next to Emilia, who was sat near her brother.

"A couple of paracetamol," Emilia said, "I didn't know what else to do."

Jana reached gently for Matei's hand gently removing the bandages that he had shoddily tied around it. The wound was bright red and sore. Jana grabbed the medicine bag that Ceri had given her when she left Stoneybridge.

Lavender, probably some sage, lemon, some St John's wort, that fancy tea tree oil from the herbalists, and honey- but there was probably some of that in the kitchen.

"Emilia," Jana said, "Can you go and get me a bowl, some cotton wool and some new bandages. Oh and some honey if you have any?"

Emilia nodded, "Yeah, sure."

"I thought only the healers knew all of this," TJ said.

"Well it isn't big on the ickle princess alpha's daughter education programme," Jana began, "But it's important for an alpha to know how to heal herself. And Ceri wouldn't have let me just be totally clueless about herbs…"

"Is that why you're helping him?" TJ asked, "Because he reminds you of Rhydian."

Jana smiled, "Rhydian's not my alpha. Not anymore. Matei sounds so different from Rhydian."

"Here," Emilia said, running into the room and passing Jana the items.

"Thank you," Jana said, before mixing all of them into a bowl and using some of the cotton wall to apply the mixture to the wound.

Matei grimaced, waking up slightly, and moving his hand away.

"Hold still," Emilia said, "Look, you need to drink some water."

Matei shook his head.

"Your sister is right," Jana agreed, "You'll feel better."

"Jana?" Matei mumbled.

"It's ok," Jana said, reassuring him. She absentmindedly reached out and run a hand through his hair- it was so soft…

"Erm, Jana," TJ began, "What are you doing?"

"Oh, it's just Reiki," Jana began quickly, blushing with embarrassment, "You know…"

She gestured wildly, causing TJ to smirk.

She carefully bandaged up Matei's hand earning a tired smile from him.

"Thank you," he mumbled, followed by something that sounded a little like, coffee and some time.

Jana shook her head, concluding that she must be imagining things.

"Thank you," Emilia said.

Jana smiled, "Use this every four or so hours until the swelling has gone down. If he isn't better by morning then call me and I'll get someone from Segolia to come over. Just keep your foster parents away from him until he's better. With a fever like that… and for the love of the holy wolfblood goddess, please don't ever do anything like this again, either of you."

Emilia nodded, "I promise."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK  
"Another night shift?" Katrina asked, as Jana struggled to stay awake, her head resting against the table.

Jana nodded. Needless to say she hadn't slept well. She had been up most of the night worrying about Matei- his fever had been so bad, maybe she should have gone back there to check during the night…

No, TJ was right, that would have just made her a creepy stalker…

And she didn't want to be a creepy stalker girl because she didn't want Matei to think of her like that…

She wanted him to like her, because he was quite fit…

Oh, goddess, Jana thought to herself, what was she thinking? She didn't even know the guy really? And now she was crushing on him? What on earth was happening to her?

"Er, Jana," Katrina asked, "Are you asleep?"

Jana shook her head, making the coffee in the cup shake.

"Are you ok?" Katrina asked, "Should I call TJ?"

"No, I'm fine," Jana said, a little too hastily. She didn't need TJ's teasing right now.

"Boy trouble?" Katrina asked with a smile.

Jana nodded, "Something like that. But not what you're thinking, not TJ and not Rhydian either. Just another guy, I mean a really nice other guy. Oh, goddess, I'm so tired, did I really just say that?"

Katrina smiled, "Oh Jana. You absolutely have to make sure I meet this other guy."

Jana groaned, "But please don't tell him that I said anything because it will be really awkward."

"I don't even know his name," Katrina asked, "What is he like?"

Jana shrugged.

"Younger or older?" Katrina asked.

"Younger," Jana answered.

"Wow, playing cougar, are we?" Katrina asked.

"No, more of a wolf really," Jana said groggily without thinking, a silently cussed at her indiscretion.

"How do you play wolf?" Katrina asked puzzled.

"It's a new street lingo thing," Jana said quickly, "TJ told me about it."

Katrina nodded understandingly, "Tall?"

Jana nodded.

"Dark?" Katrina added.

Jana nodded more exuberantly.

"Mysterious?" Katrina continued.

"Where do I even start?" Jana responded.

"Oh, just another reason for me to do that couples dance night here," Katrina said excitedly, "You must absolutely introduce me to him."

"Well the thing is," Jana replied, "Our relationship, it's not really, we know each other through TJ but we've never had a coherent conversation."

Katrina looked confused and worried, but didn't have a clue what to say.

"And then last night," Jana continued, "He was so ill, and I was the only one who could make him feel better, and then I think he asked me to go get coffee with him some time, only I don't know, because he was a bit out of it. And now I don't know when I'm going to get to see him again or anything."

"Wow," Katrina said, "Just a little advice, Jana. You're sixteen, just because it's legal, or at least some of what your saying is, doesn't mean you should."

Jana made herself immensely dizzy as she sat up instantly in shock, "What?!"

"Oh," Katrina said confused, "I thought you were telling me that you were drunk or drugged and that you slept with some guy."

Jana almost knocked over her coffee cup in shock, "Oh god, no, oh, did it really sound like that?"

Katrina nodded awkwardly.

Jana let her head slam on the table, "Please never say anything to anyone. He'd only hurt his hand and was sick and wanted me to help him. It wasn't anything like that, I swear."

"Good," Katrina said, "I just don't want to see you on Teen Mom anytime soon."

Jana smiled and despite every fibre in her body telling her not to think life that images of black haired and red haired kids popped into her head…

She quickly sipped her coffee as if caffeine might clear her mind.

Katrina smiled, "Come on, I'll call TJ, get him to take you home."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"See it's going to be all fixed soon," Matei said, waving his bandaged hand, "Thank Jana for me will you."

TJ smiled, "I will. But you still owe her a coffee."

Matei looked at TJ in confusion, "What?"

"Yeah, I heard you," TJ said, "And so did she?"

"Well where's the best place for coffee in town?" Matei asked.

"Katrina's place," TJ replied, "The Kafe, down by the docks."

Matei nodded, hoping he wasn't going to screw everything up, "Thanks."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"One small latte please," Matei ordered as Katrina stared at him with a small smile.

"Er, sure," Katrina said after a dazed moment, "And do you want anything else?"

"Erm, I don't know," Matei began, "I might be meeting a friend later, so I guess, I'll probably just, erm, I'll probably just order then."

Katrina nodded, "Good idea."

"I sure your friend won't be too long," Katrina nodded, "Here you go."

"Thanks," Matei said, "I'm sure too."

Katrina turned away and texted quickly.

 _OMG! Jana, he's here! And you're right he is so fit! You better go get him wolf! XXXXX_

 **SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 5 (SERIES 4):**

So I think we may as well say that Jatei (Jana and Matei) are now canon after today's episode. There were some many little exchanges between them that my heart almost died. The Taylor Swift love quiz scene was some funny- Katrina 'You're in a love with someone but you are too afraid to admit it', Matei constantly staring at Jana and completely ignoring Katrina. And then there was the scene where Matei that he'd seen better fighters than Selina- I think maybe he meant Jana…

Can't wait for tomorrows episode.


	6. Chapter 6

Jana shook her head in disbelief. She couldn't believe what she had just read.

Behind her Imara paced backwards and forwards nervously, making Jana feel nervous too. She felt sick and torn between her duty to help Imara and her loyalty to the young wolfblood boy who she already felt strangely connected to.

"I thought this threat had already been dealt with," Imara began, "By Victoria's team a good few months ago. Obviously there is more to this than we previously thought. If we could trace the IP address of the main blogger then we could track them, but chances are this wolfblood might be good at covering it's tracks. Which would place us all in grave danger. Did you know anything about any of this Jana?"

Jana shook her head, despite the uneasiness in her stomach, "It was never mentioned to me."

"That's strange," Imara pondered, "This was the biggest headache that the security team had to handle in quite a while. Well, apart from the Kincaid fiasco of course. What was the blogger's username again?"

Jana cringed, "MrHotWolfbloodGN."

Imara rolled her eyes, "Obviously someone young, probably a teenager. But what would the GN stand for?"

Jana shrugged, "Maybe it's some kind of code for a person's status in the group."

"I like your thinking," Imara commented, "Or maybe it could point to the blogger's location."

Jana shook her head, "I think it would be more likely to be some status thing."

Imara regarded Jana with a puzzled expression, "Why do you think that would be more likely?"

"Well you know how humans put initials after their names," Jana began uncertainly, "Maybe it's like that."

Imara smiled, "I highly doubt they would have got this idea from humans. You read the comments yourself, this is a group of human hating wolfbloods. Ultra-purist wolfbloods. Whoever the kid is, he needs help."

"You can't be sure it is a kid," Jana said quickly, "And what would Segolia do to them?"

"Help them," Imara said simply.

"How?" Jana asked.

"Well it would depend on how much trouble they caused," Imara concluded solemnly.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"My friend is going to be here in a couple of minutes," Matei said for what seemed like the billionth time, but still Katrina too no notice of him.

He was receiving the full Spanish inquisition from the girl and also, the Kafe had officially closed half an hour before, so really Matei shouldn't be there.

Why was Katrina keeping him there?

"Yeah, I know," Katrina replied, "But you never answered my question. So are there any girls in Newcastle that you think are cute?"

Matei sighed, "Yeah, tons. I can't move for cute girls."

"Aw," Katrina said, "I bet you're a real ladies man, aren't you?"

"Yup, that's me," Matei said nodding.

"I knew it," Katrina said, "So have you got your eye on anyone in particular?"

Matei sighed, "I'm sorry, Katrina. You're nice but… blondes aren't my type."

"Oh," Katrina said shocked, "I wasn't asking for me. It's just a friend of mine wanted to know…"

"Well I am single," Matei began, "But I'm more of the lone wolf."

"I understand," Katrina responded, "A lot of boys believe in treat them, mean keep them keen. I guess a ladies' man like you just wants to be there for all the girls."

"Mostly just my sister," Matei responded, "I tend not to care too much about other girls."

"It's sweet that you care so much about your sister," Katrina responded, "But you need to look after yourself too."

"I do," Matei replied, "I'm perfectly capable of looking after myself."

"I don't doubt it," Katrina replied, "But I think you are longing for someone."

Someone to rescue me, Matei thought to himself, where on earth was Jana?

Katrina smiled, "And I sense that you do have someone in mind."

Matei smiled, as he thought about Jana. She was cute, he had to admit that much… he should have just asked TJ for her number. Any normal boy would have done that. But it didn't seem right, to go behind her back like that…

"I knew it," Katrina replied, "So why haven't you asked her out yet?"

"Her?" Matei answered, knowing full well he was going to regret playing this card later on. But he had to get out of here.

"Oh, my god, I'm so sorry," Katrina responded, "I didn't realise you were…"

"Yeah, just don't tell the whole world," Matei said rudely, as he threw the money down on the table and left.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

The sun peaked through Jana's curtains and she groaned, pulling the covers over her head.

She hated dark moon days and was immensely glad that Segolia allowed wolfbloods to have the day off. Well, she was immensely glad until now.

Jana bit her trembling lip. I guess some things, some people, Jana thought to herself, are just too good to be true.

She had fallen asleep with her laptop next to her. As much as the comments dug at her and hurt her soul she had kept on reading, hoping that she might find some shred that might show that Matei had changed his mind and become less tyrannical.

Despite every ounce of common sense, she opened the webpage again and continued reading. Sobs shook through her with every letter, every word and every sentence…

MrHotWolfbloodGN: Tame wolfbloods, yeah they're the worst. They think it's all so perfect… let's have human friends, oh, yeah that will be so cool, lol. But they can't ever tell them. They're just lying to themselves the whole time.

SociallyAwkwardWB: You are so right. I just wish I could meet you, we'd be such a team. What do you think about wild ones who go tame?

MrHotWolfbloodGN: I can't really say too much, because my parents were wild then went tame. Its humans fault most of the time, stealing our land or threatening us. So it's not always the wolfblood's fault if they go tame. Just another reason why we can't all play happy families right?

Wolfbloodsforthewin: So true, mate. But what about wildies who choose to though? Like totally because they just prefer the lifestyle, not because they have no other option.

MrHotWolfbloodGN: Oh gods, they are the worst. If I ever met one…

SociallyAwkwardWB: Go on, what would you do?

MrHotWolfbloodGN: Depends on how well I knew them, what they're like. If they're misguided, then I'd help them see it all from our point of view. If they're dead set however… well then they're just standing in our way, and they need to be dealt with. If you know what I mean ;)

SociallyAwkwardWB: You're killing me, go on? I love it when you go all inventive :D

MrHotWolfbloodGN: Well where to start… I better not say too much… I got blocked for a week last time… but yeah, something like I said before.

SociallyAwkwardWB: You are such a bad boy, but so cool. I love your outlook on life.

MrHotWolfbloodGN: Well, thanks. But it's all undeniably true. Wolfbloods and humans just can't ever live together, end of. And unions between them, that's just unbelievably wrong. Worst still are these so called wild wolfbloods who corrupt their packs. You know I heard about one who taught her pack how to read? That's just sick.

MrHotWolfbloodGN: It's just destroying everything about how we are. I have to fit into this stinking human world. :( Because there's no way for me to run away… But once I'm old enough, I'm going back to the wild. I'm sure I'll be able to raise an army there.

SociallyAwkwardWB: Could I come with you? ;) We could fight against that sick tame wolfblood you were just talking about.

MrHotWolfbloodGN: That would be absolutely awesome.

Jana shut the laptop and sobbed into her pillow. First Rhydian, now Matei, how many times was she going to end up holding out hope for a guy who only ended up breaking her heart?

She heard a knock on her bedroom door, and quickly dried her eyes, "Come in."

TJ opened the door, and smiled but his smile soon disappeared.

"Jana, what's wrong?" he asked, concerned.

"What did you tell Matei about me?" Jana asked.

TJ shrugged, "I don't know. He was asking me about wildies that go tame, but that was ages ago, and I mentioned you and about your ideas on how to integrate wildies and the modern world a lot more- you know, reading and buying human medicine. He seemed really interested. Then when you moved in, well I thought you were going to meet him anyway, eventually, so I didn't really say anything else."

Jana tried as hard as she could to fight the feeling of nausea in her stomach.

"Did something happen between you and Matei?" TJ asked, "Because I swear…"

Jana shook her head quickly, "No, no. I just heard a few rumours. But it's all cool. Thanks TJ."

TJ nodded, smiling, but he knew that something wasn't right.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"Sick, again?" Amanda said, as she put a hand on Matei's forehead, "Twice in a week. I'm going to have to call the doctors, I think. This isn't like you Matei. I know your anaemia comes and goes a bit, and that's why you get so tired sometimes but now, now I'm just worried."

Matei smiled sadly at his foster mother, "I'll be ok. It's probably just that 24hr stomach bug going around."

"Well, just get some rest," Amanda replied, "But if you're not better by tomorrow I'm taking you straight to the doctors, ok?"

Matei nodded tiredly, "Sure. Have a good day at work."

"I'll try to," Amanda said, hugging her clearly feverish foster son, "You just get better."

Matei nodded before falling asleep.

Sometime later, he awoke suddenly, aware of someone shaking him.

"Honestly, you really need to man up," Emilia complained, "First you cut your hand. Then you spend a whole week sulking, just because you haven't been able to talk to Jana. Now you're skiving. Come on, it's just a baboon day."

Matei smiled, "Baboons are evil. Mum told you that."

Emilia rolled her eyes, "I go to school every dark moon day. And anyway how did you convince Amanda to let you stay of school?"

Matei held up two boiling hot water bottles, "These and about a litre of herbal tea. I just couldn't go in today. Not after the past week. I thought Katrina wouldn't say anything not even to Kay."

Emilia shrugged, "You were rude to her. I guess it's just karma. Did you really have to tell Katrina that story though?"

Matei shrugged, "I was just trying to get her to shut up. I guess in doing so I lost my chance with Jana too."

Emilia rolled her eyes, "I'm going to school. Try not to spend the whole day pining."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

13 Glenn Gardens, again.

Jana trembled with nerves and anger. He had to hear, he had to. Because he need to be stopped, before someone like Imara found him and he was locked away forever…

Because from what Jana had managed to find out from Imara, it sounded as if Matei's life would be torn to shreds if he was ever found.

And Jana would never get to see him again, which hurt her more than she thought it could at the moment.

A dishevelled Matei answered the door. He looked exhausted and a little flushed, but he became more alert as he saw her and smiled, in that way that made Jana feel like a bag of mush…

Oh pull yourself together, Jana chided herself, you're supposed to be an alpha.

"Hello MrHotWolfbloodGN," Jana said quietly, trying to keep her voice even.

Matei's eyes widened with surprise and horror and he looked like he was about to faint from shock.

"Jana, please," Matei begged, "I can explain."

"Yeah, you know what you can," Jana began, "Why don't you tell me what you and that other girl wanted to do to me? What you planned to do to the girl who taught her pack to read?"

"Jana, please," Matei continued, "I was in bad place. But I've changed now, I promise."

"You want me to believe that you've changed so much in the space of a month?" Jana responded disbelievingly, "You know what I'm glad I stood you up that night. I don't ever want to see you again."

Jana's breathing was uneven, haggard and fast.

"You don't mean that," Matei answered, "I know you don't. I saw the way you looked, when you healed me, I saw…"

"So you want a medal?" Jana exploded, "For playing with my emotions."

"Jana, I never meant for you to know anything about any of this," Matei responded pleadingly, "I want us to be friends, I swear. I was going through a bad time then. It was close to the anniversary of the fire and I… I thought that doing this would make them proud. They were all for putting wolfbloods first, maybe not to the extent that I wanted to… Please believe me. Jana, please."

Jana tried to remain strong outside, because inside she was like a barbequed marshmallow.

"The people on there, they are twisted," Matei continued, "Manipulative. I got in to deep and went too far. I made assumptions about you that I know now could never be true. You have to believe me."

"Why?" Jana exploded, "You were living this double life. Why should I believe you?"

"Because I…" Matei began.

"Yeah, I thought so," Jana replied.


	7. Chapter 7

"Matei!" Emilia yelled into her phone, "How could you? I know Mum and Dad had their views on wolfbloods and humans however that doesn't mean you should have done something like that. Now look at the mess you've made… Yeah, I can tell you're sorry about it… well I don't know what to do, do I? Look I'll speak to TJ, maybe he'll be able to help."

"Care to explain?" TJ asked.

Emilia sighed loudly, "You know that group of friends my brother was hanging around with about a month ago."

"The ones that thought wolfbloods were better than humans?" TJ asked, "You know, they thought that wolfbloods should have more power over humans, didn't they?"

Emilia nodded, "I only knew Matei had some friends with some odd views. I mean Mum and Dad were kind of in to the more controversial paths of wolfblood life. They used to transform outdoors, eat raw meat, weren't always that careful to not reveal themselves. They felt that wolfbloods have enough powers to merit them being given more positions of authority and that humans should be aware that they are no longer the top dogs, pardon the pun."

TJ sighed, "I can see where Matei let it snowball out of control. But how could your parents not see the danger of letting humans know about us?"

Emilia shrugged, "To me, it's obvious that humans pose a risk. I think they were just complacent, believing Segolia could sort out everything for them if something went wrong. Then the fire happened… and Darren saw us… we were lucky no one found out about what we really were. I don't really understand, I think they never really told me a lot about all the conspiracy theories and groups they were a part of. As for Matei, I guess things were different. But why he decided to do this? To take this particular path is beyond me."

"Mr Popular's more sensitive than he looks," TJ began, "I know he goes for the big tough save the world brother attitude around everyone but it's not really the truth."

"I know that he's vulnerable," Emilia replied, "He saw them, when… I didn't. It changed him."

"Changed him how?" TJ asked in shock.

"Before the fire," Emilia started with a shaky voice, "Before the fire, Matei was a little bit of a rebel, by my parents standards at least. He thought that governments should have more posts for wolfbloods, but apart from that he didn't really see eye to eye with our parents views. After they died, he threw himself into being the son that they'd wanted him to be. He started hanging around with a whole load of people I'd never seen before, from all over the place. He spent loads of time on-line. Amanda and John just thought he was grieving, and I guess he was but… it's only ended up hurting him. We need to help him TJ, promise me you will help him."

TJ nodded, "There's someone else that might be able to help too."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"I thought you'd be at work Jana," Katrina said puzzled, as she passed Jana her second cup of chocolate chip iced frappé.

"Day off," Jana said simply. Inside she was still raging and torn up.

"So what happened the other day?" Katrina asked, "Did you not get my text?"

"I did," Jana said with a sigh.

Katrina looked at Jana worriedly, "Go on."

"Matei's…" Jana began with a smile and a sad half laugh, "He's complicated. It turns out he wasn't who I thought he was, and now he swears that he's a better person but I don't know what to believe."

"Go with your gut instincts," Katrina advised, "Follow the ivy."

"Follow the ivy?" Jana asked with a grin.

"Yeah, you know the way you just knew where to go," Katrina began, "Even though you had no compass or a map or anything. You just trust that you knew the right way to go and that was that and then we beat Jimi, which was awesome."

Jana smiled, "Yeah it was. Thanks, Katrina."

"No problem," Katrina, "But if that boy ever hurts you again."

Jana smiled, "I really hope he doesn't."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"Hey Selina!" TJ yelled as he saw the girl sat at one of the cafeteria tables, reading a book.

Selina looked up smiling, "TJ, I'm supposed to be revising. You know you're such a bad influence."

"Says the taekwondo super girl," TJ responded.

Selina rolled her eyes, "Go on, what is it this time?"

"You know Matei Covaci," TJ said.

"Well sort of," Selina replied, "He's one of us. I've not had a conversation with him but he comes across as the silent and deadly type. Why, what's he been up to?"

"Oh, where to start?" TJ answered, "He's been blogging and hanging around with these guys who think wolfbloods should dominate the world, that humans should be subservient, and that tames are full of-."

"Yeah, ok TJ," Selina responded.

"We need to come up with a plan to help him," TJ replied, "But we have no idea where to start."

Selina shrugged, "I guess you should help him find something he loves more than world domination."

TJ laughed, "Well there might be one thing, except for his sister of course, that he loves more than world domination. Or at least likes I guess. Love might be a little too soon."

"A girl?" Selina asked.

TJ nodded with a sigh, "The world can be cruel Selina."

"Whatever," Selina said, before turning back to her book.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Matei hated dark moon days. Well all wolfbloods hated dark moon days, but if there was an award for the wolfblood who had the most hatred for them, it would have gone to Matei. This dark moon had to be one of the worst in his life.

He sat scrolling through the web-page on his phone, trying to ignore his exhaustion and the throbbing headache that he had. It was sad really, that he was using google to answer this question. He wanted to ask his foster mum for advice, but what could he say? Hi Mum, what do I say to a girl who I'm not sure if I like and that has just found out that I used to belong to a group of radical werewolf puppies?

Matei smiled to himself, smiling at the ludicrous idea. Now he just having to make do with wiki-how. Not that it was much better.

He was sitting up near the stone wall that overlooked the city, and favourite full moon haunt of his that had slowly become a day time get away too. No doubt Amanda would panic when she found out he had skipped school. But Matei couldn't very well curl up in a ball in the middle of maths class...

That was all he wanted to do at that moment, given the morning he'd just had.

Matei kicked at the ground miserably, but really he wanted to kick himself. Why he let himself get in with wrong pack? Since when had he ever really been that strongly against humans or pro-wolfblood in that way? In truth, he was mostly apathetic towards humans, humans were horrible to his sister, wolfbloods weren't but it couldn't be helped, humans were just prejudiced and they didn't know any better.

And as for Jana... He couldn't have been more of an idiot, he thought to himself. Now that grief no longer clouded his vision he saw her modernisation of the wild pack as a miracle rather than a massacre. Teaching wildies how to read and write and how to use modern medicine- it must have been hell trying to achieve that. Jana deserved respect not ridicule.

And she had his respect, really. Although she might never realise it now.

A familiar and heart-warming scent filled the air and he looked up to see his sister approaching. Emilia smiled to him sadly before sitting next to him on the wall.

"Why, Matei?" Emilia asked, "Why do you always put yourself through hell?"

Matei sighed haggardly, "I'm an idiot. That's why. I can never do the right. I never did what Mum and Dad wanted, and now I've hurt Jana too. And Amanda and John are going to be angry at me for cutting class."

Emilia smiled, "I called Amanda, I said you were having a bad day- she just wants us to be happy and safe. They'll let us bend the rules a little if we need to. As for Mum and Dad, you were right not to do everything they said, you were right to question their beliefs and I know the only reason why you got in with the wrong people was because you felt a duty to uphold their beliefs and their legacy. But you have to know that you can just be you and you'll still make them proud, they'll still love you know matter what, just like they always did."

Matei smiled, tears running down his cheek, not at all sure how to respond. Emilia hugged him and they cried together for a good few moments. Allowing themselves just to feel completely and utterly what it meant to be orphans but knowing that they would never really be alone.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"Stop laughing Katrina!" TJ complained.

"I know I mentioned it before TJ," Katrina began as she continued cleaning the tables, "But I was only kidding. I just thought maybe if we've gave them a bit of a nudge..."

"I know, I know," TJ replied, "And this is what Matei needs. You see Matei's been upset for a while, and I think the only thing that would make him happy is Jana."

"I though you and Jana were-," Katrina said confused.

"No, no," TJ replied, "We're just mates. And well, don't go saying it to anyone else, but Selina, well..."

Katrina smiled, "I can keep a secret."

"Thanks," TJ said.

Selina burst into the Kafe a few moments later, happily holding a stack of books.

"How did you get the plan to work?" TJ asked in astonishment.

"I told him we needed to borrow some books for our theatre society," Selina answered, "I thought this might be ok..."

TJ smiled as he saw the title, "A bit cheesy and then there's the ending. I think we should go for something a little more upbeat."

"Yeah," Katrina agreed, "But I like this idea. And you're right doing a performance night at the Kafe would be good for business."

"And for Jana and Matei," TJ added.

"Well then it's sorted," Katrina replied, "We're doing this."

"Let's just hope they don't decide to eat us."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Jana had spent most of the day in bed and didn't feel any more refreshed than she had before her nap. She trudged up the path to the Kafe groggily, hoping that the emergency that she was about to enquire about might give her an adrenaline rush that would cut through her tiredness.

When she opened the door, she most certainly did get an adrenaline rush.

Matei stood in front of her, instantly turning white as a sheet as he saw her and all Jana could do was give him a shocked look. TJ avoided her gaze and she knew immediately that this was a set up. She wanted to turn and walk away, slamming the door loudly behind her. But something rooted her to the spot, it was as if Matei's eyes has super-glued her to the floor.

"Hi," she said awkwardly, in a voice barely above a whisper.

"Hi," Matei replied, "Are you here to help Katrina plan the events rota? She said she needed your help with one of the events. She needed all of us to help, apparently."

"No," Jana answered in confusion, "I'm here for the emergency."

"Well it is an emergency," Katrina replied, "We only have two weeks until the Kafe's first ever performance of Romeo and Juliet."

Jana bit back a string of cusses, especially as she saw the smirk on TJ's face. Oh, ha ha ha.

Matei looked similarly chagrined, "You want us to help?"

"Of course," Katrina replied, "You two are going to be our Romeo and Juliet."

Jana dropped her bag in shock, letting it clatter loudly onto the floor.

"Wait, no," Matei replied, "I can't act. I really can't. I'm a terrible actor."

Jana walked and grabbed TJ by the collar of his coat, "Just need to borrow TJ, won't be long."

Matei almost smiled as she watched the red haired girl.

"Woah, Jana , chill," TJ said, "Chill. Just here me out."

Jana and TJ stood in the cold night air outside the Kafe. Jana was fuming and couldn't contain her anger.

"You really need to explain right now!" Jana exploded, "Which part of I never want to see him again did you misunderstand?"

"I understand you, loud and clear," TJ answered, "But Matei and you..."

"Matei and I what?" Jana answered.

"I saw the way you look at him," TJ replied, "And the way he looked at you. You two need to start talking again because I'm pretty sure both of you are heartbroken right now, although of course neither of you would admit it. I'm just not going to let my friends be miserable because of one massive misunderstanding."

"What exactly am I misunderstanding?" Jana asked angrily, "He bragged to his friends that he wanted to hurt me because of the way I modernised the pack and because I chose to become tame, and now he wants me to believe that in a month he's miraculously changed. I just can't do that."

"I know," TJ replied, "But I think you aren't realise how much he has actually changed. He definitely isn't the same person he was back then. He's been so much happier since he met you."

"TJ?" Matei asked as he stepped outside, "Do you mind if I talk to Jana?"

"It's up to her," TJ answered, "I'll just be inside."

"Go on," Jana replied, "But don't think you can just apologize and suddenly everything will be great."

"I'm not that naive," Matei replied, "I just wanted you to know that what TJ said is true. I have been so much happier since I met you. And I want you to know that I do respect you a lot actually, for teaching the wild pack to read and write and for introducing them to human medicine. It must have been hard to get them to accept those changes. I definitely misunderstood and underestimated you. I know you won't trust me instantaneously, but I'm hoping I might be able to earn your trust again."

Jana sighed, follow the ivy, follow the ivy, "Ok, but only one last chance."


	8. Chapter 8

"Matei!" Katrina yelled, "How many times do I have to tell you? You are supposed to be standing below the balcony!"

Matei rolled his eyes and walked over glumly to Jana, who was standing on a chair, looking just about as happy as he did at that moment.

"Now where were we?" Katrina asked, leafing through the pages of the book, "Yes, Act 2 Scene 1."

"Hurrah," Matei whispered earning a quiet laugh from Jana. At least she seemed a little happier with him now... or maybe she was just trying to stay positive about the endless rehearsals for this ludicrous play.

"Matei! Stop distracting Jana," Katrina shrieked, "Do you know how important this scene is?"

Matei nodded, "I did tell you I'm more a Tybalt than a Romeo."

"Well you two are going to be Romeo and Juliet no matter what happens," Katrina continued, "Even if I have to kidnap you both to make sure you're going to be here on time."

"Erm, I think you're forgetting that I live here now," Jana said, "And work here."

"You're still a nightmare to pin down most of the time," Katrina complained, as the door bell rang loudly.

"How is the show going?" TJ asked.

"Dreadful," Katrina replied, "Matei's not doing anything I say."

"I told you I'm a rubbish actor," Matei answered.

"And I told you that no matter what you are going to be Romeo," Katrina answered, "We only have three days until our first performance. We don't have a moment to lose. Now, the balcony scene!"

"Break a leg," TJ said with a beaming smile.

"Wish I actually could right now," Matei replied grumpily.

"You're meant to be madly in love, Matei," Katrina replied, "So smile."

Matei grinned sarcastically earning an eye roll from Katrina and a smile from Jana and TJ.

Matei began, " He jests at the scars that never felt a wound."

Jana answered, " Juliet appears above at a window."

"You're not supposed to read that part," Matei whispered.

"Sorry," Jana replied.

"But what soft light through yonder window breaks?" Matei continued, "It is in the east and Juliet is the sun! Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, which is already sick and pale with grief, that tow her maid art far fair then she. But not her maid, since she is angry; her something something is sick and green, and none but fools do wear it. It is a lady, oh, it is my love!"

Katrina winced, "Well at least it was better than last time. Go on."

Matei replied, "She speaks, but she is silent; what? Her eyes, I will answer them. I am too bold: it is not to me she speaks. To the fairest stars in all heaven, which have some business, do something to her eyes. To twinkle in spheres until they return. What if her eyes were there, are they in her head?"

Katrina winced, smoothing the creases in her green skirt,"I think we'll just move on to Juliet, shall we?"

Jana and Matei nodded in agreement.

Jana began, in her best posh voice, "O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? Ignore thy father and discard thy name; or, if thou not, be but sworn in my love, And I'll no longer be a Captulet."

Katrina sighed, "It's Capulet. Capulet."

"Sorry," Jana replied before continuing, "Juliet. Oops, sorry. 'Is but my name that is my enemy: Thou art myself, though not a Montague.What's Montague? It is not hand, not foot, nor arm, nor face, nor any other body part. O, be some other name. What's in a name? That we call which a rose by another name would smell so sweet."

"Given the way Katrina's looking at us, I have a feeling we'll both pushing up the sweet smelling roses soon," Matei said under his breath

Katrina, "Ok! Five minute break. And could you two please read through your scripts tonight."

"It could be worse," TJ said, "Last week Jana was calling Juliet a catapult."

"I'm going to need a coffee," Katrina replied.

Matei let out a sigh, "Are we really that bad?"

TJ smiled, "You're both getting there."

"There's three days until the performance," Jana said in a panicked tone, "And I still can't remember my lines. I mean it would help if I actually knew what I was reading."

"Jana, don't worry," TJ reassured her, "Everyone feels that way about Shakespeare."

"No, I mean it literally TJ," Jana answered, "You forget I only started reading when I was fourteen."

"Wait, what?" Matei asked in shock, "I mean I know wild packs are not usually literate but... You were an alpha's daughter, surely your education..."

Jana shook her head, "Rhydian taught me how to read and my father almost killed him for it."

"Wow, and I thought my ex-girlfriend's dads could be strict," TJ replied.

"I can help you if you want?" Matei offered nervously. He wasn't sure how angry Jana still was at him. They hadn't really had the chance to have a proper conversation what with all the rehearsals.

Jana smiled, "I don't know. I'm sure I'll be ok."

"You don't have to be worried about asking for help Jana," Matei replied.

Jana sighed, "Ok. But we'll need to start as soon as possible."

"It won't be a good idea here," Matei replied, "There's only so much Katrina I can take. And I told my foster mum I'd be back by half seven."

"Don't worry, I'll make sure you're home in time for curfew," Jana reassured him.

"Yeah, she's great at that," TJ answered.

"Well, if you were better at timekeeping, Terence," Jana replied, with raised eyebrows. She could see Matei smiling and felt as if her insides were turning to mush. How on earth was she going to concentrate on reading...

"That reminds me," TJ replied, grabbing his phone, "My mum's going to kill me..."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Matei and Jana walked next to each other in awkward silence. Matei was usually very introvert, so he didn't have any idea what to say and as for Jana she seemed to be miles away.

"So," Matei began, "Do you hear from your friends in Canada much?"

Jana nodded, "We try to Skype at least once a month and I'm going to visit them for Christmas. Or at least I was until Segolia..."

"But they'll visit you," Matei reassured her, "If you can't visit them. I'm sure of that."

Jana smiled, "And what about you and Emilia? What do usually do for the holidays?"

"Well," Matei began, "We've been living with Amanda and John for just under a year, so this will be our first Christmas with them. If it's anything like our birthdays were..."

"What happened on your birthdays?" Jana asked.

"Everything," Matei began happily, "We'd have breakfast in bed and then there would be tons of presents to open and Amanda and John would let us have the day of school and we'd get to go wherever we want to. I decided to go to that new rock climbing wall that opened a couple of months ago. It's pretty cool for wolfbloods, but Emilia is a little scared of heights, although she'd never admit it."

"She sounds like me when I was younger," Jana admitted, "I used to be scared of heights too, though if I never told Meinir and Aran... Birthdays in the wild used to be quite fun too, because I was an alpha's daughter. My mum and dad spoilt me a lot- I got a tent of my own on third birthday- and there would always be a massive feast. Oh, and when I was two, Rhydian got me a massive pheasant."

"Pheasant?" Matei asked with a grin.

Jana nodded, "Rhydian said I named him Chirpy. He didn't chirp much after Dad decided to use him as the ritual sacrifice of course."

"Ouch," Matei said.

Jana smiled, "And then Rhydian decided to dress up the pheasant with feathers and berries and acorns and my Dad nearly banished him."

"You know I'm happy we didn't leave for the wild with Aran and Meinir," Matei replied, "Wild life sounds a bit extreme, and well there are some things I just can't live without."

"Like flushing toilets and central heating?" Jana asked.

"Well yeah," Matei said, "But I mean there are people I would have been sad to leave behind."

"I would have missed you," Jana said.

"I would have missed you too," Matei answered.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"Hello," Amanda called out as Matei and Jana walked through the door, "You're earlier than I thought you'd be, Matei. John isn't even in yet. I guess Katrina finally gave you a break then?"

"No," Matei replied as he walked into the kitchen, Jana following behind him, "Katrina needed a break. I don't know why she doesn't understand I'm a terrible actor. This is Jana, by the way, she came over to rehearse with me. Jana, this is my foster mum, Amanda."

"Hi," Jana said.

"Oh, Jana," Amanda answered, "It's nice to finally meet you, Matei has told me so much about you."

"Really?" Jana asked in surprise.

Matei blushed, "Amanda."

Amanda shrugged, "I hope you'll stay for dinner. It was Matei's night to choose so we'll be having BBQ ribs. You're not vegetarian are you?"

"Oh no," Jana replied, "Thank you."

"Matei tells me you're working at the Kafe now," Amanda said, "It was hard for us to, Imara telling us that Matei and Emilia had a problem with their immigration status. Who would have thought? Emilia and Matei were born and raised in England their whole lives. I was so sad when they ran away but I'm glad you looked after them. I can understand why you turned your back on Segolia, John and I almost did too. Dodgy paperwork- I thought Segolia was better than that."

"So did I," Jana replied, "But I'm happy now. Working at the Kafe. And Matei and Emilia are happy to be back home."

"I know," Amanda said, playfully ruffling Matei's hair, "If anything had happened..."

Matei hugged Amanda, "I promise Emilia and I will never run away again. Ever."

Amanda smiled, trying not to cry, "Now go on you two, if you're not perfect Katrina will kill you. And of course we're looking forward to seeing both of you on opening night."

"What?!" Matei shrieked in horror.

"You can thank me later," Emilia said as she strolled into the kitchen and grabbed a cartoon of orange juice out of the fridge.

Matei almost growled at Emilia, who just gave him a smile in return.

Matei coughed as Amanda looked at him worriedly, "It's the humidity."

Amanda smiled, "Go on. I'll call you when dinner is ready. And don't forget John's rules."

"Yeah, I won't," Matei replied, shaking his head.

"Your foster dad's rules?" Jana asked.

"When I first moved in..." Matei began grinning, "And John didn't know me very well. One of his rules was to keep the door open. Not that I invite girls to my house, really."

"Oh, ok," Jana said awkwardly. She didn't need to be thinking about Matei like that.

"And I'm sorry if Amanda is a little to exuberant tonight," Matei continued, "She thinks we're a... Well you know."

"Oh," Jana said, "What exactly did you tell Amanda about me?"

"Erm, I can't remember," Matei said quickly, "And this is my room, although you've already been here, I think."

Jana looked around the room, it was tidier than before but piles of books still were stacked on the desk and she still smiled at the teddy bear on the bedside table.

Jana nodded, "You know you shouldn't hide things from me if you want me to trust you again."

Matei sighed, "I might have gone on a little bit about how much you helped us and how grateful I was and Emilia might have said about how much I look at you or something like that and now Amanda keeps on bugging me to invite you to the couple's dance at the Kafe."

"Are you even going to the dance?" Jana asked.

"Oh god no," Matei replied, "I hate dancing."

"Yeah, me to," Jana answered, a little sadly, "But Katrina wants me to help her that night, so I'm going to be there anyway."

"Well I might drop by then," Matei answered, "Just to say hi."

Jana smiled, "So, we should probably do some reading."

"Yeah, that would be a good idea," Matei replied, grabbing a couple of bean bags and a book from his desk.

"I think we need a break from Shakespeare," Matei said passing the book to Jana.

"Slaughterhouse Five," Matei replied, "One of the best anti-war books in history. You should probably buy Meinir a copy."

Jana smiled, "You Mr Revolutionary Wolfblood, reading anti-war fiction? What happened to wanting to raise an army?"

Matei smiled, "I told you my wolfblood death eater days are over. I'm strictly a member of the Order of the fluffy puppies now."

Jana looked at him,confused.

"It's a play on the Order of the Phoenix," Matei clarified, "Like you know, replace, phoenix, with wolfblood. You no what's let's just forget that."

Jana nodded, "Vonnegut then."

Matei nodded in agreement.

A few minutes later Jana looked at Matei in confusion, "So some guy stole a teapot, and another guy and another guy got abducted by aliens?"

"Yes, and no," Matei replied, "The aliens part is a metaphor."

"Meta-what?" Jana asked, "Oh it's a this- is- like- something- but- it's- not thing.

"Yeah," Matei said, "Pretty much. The aliens are a metaphor for PTSD?"

"What's PTSD?" Jana asked, "Is it something to do the teapot? You know like poor teapot..."

Matei smiled, "No, no. It's what a person gets after they've experience something awful. Like with Billy Pilgrim and the war."

"And you and Emilia and the fire," Jana said softly.

Matei nodded.

"It's ok," Jana reassured him, "You can talk to me."

Matei just shook his head, "No, I'll be ok. I think... I think Amanda was calling us... I'll just go and see."


	9. Chapter 9

"Why?!WHY?!" Jana yelled out in her sleep, tossing and turning this way and that until her duvet wrapped around her limbs, trapping her still. She still fought against it, trying to free herself as her mind filled with images of the cell, the light of the torch and that utter feeling of helplessness which she once against felt.

"Jana," Katrina called out, obviously concerned by her flatmate's screaming. She burst into the room to see a pale and crying Jana just waking up from the nightmare.

"Jana," Katrina said, hugging the girl to her side, "It's ok. It's just a bad dream."

Jana shook her head, "No, it wasn't. It was real."

"What was?" Katrina asked concerned. What on earth could have happened in Jana's life to give her such violent nightmares?

Jana shook her head again, "It hurts to talk about it."

"I just want to help," Katrina said.

Jana smiled, "Thank you. But it's ok. I just need some fresh air, I'll be back in in a while. You should get some sleep."

"But Jana, it's three in the morning," Katrina protested, "It's not safe to go outside at this time of night."

"Katrina," Jana tried to reassure her, "I can handle it. I promise. I just need a moment. I'll be fine."

"Well at least take your phone with you," Katrina said, passing Jana the IPhone which lay on her bedside table.

Jana nodded, "Thank you."

"And call me if anything happens, please," Katrina begged her.

Jana nodded with a reassuring smile before walking down the stairs, through the Kafe and into the cold night air.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Matei knew he wasn't supposed to be playing video games at night. Really he wanted to read, reading was the only thing that could distract him- from the nightmares, from his memories... And now, from that weird and sickly feeling that came over him so often. He didn't know if that feeling was a good one or not. But he was a boy, and he didn't dwell on his feelings like girls might, he wasn't about to talk about his feelings with TJ- or really anyone for that matter. So the only way to fix his problems was to read Game of Thrones or kill zombies.

He was just on an epic zombie killing spree and about to call it a night again when he heard a soft and familiar howl outside his window. Yanking his headphones of sharply and turning off his Nintendo, he jumped up and open the window to let in a gust of freezing night air.

Bright gold eyes, turned to green and her looked in shock at what stood below him. Jana's scarlet hair was ruffled and messy, her green eyes were rimmed with red and she looked pale and trembly. Yet as a wolf she had looked powerful and strong and beautiful and fierce as she always did when she took that form. If only Matei could show her how strong and beautiful and powerful and fierce she truly was and have her believe it... Because now she looked like she was on the verge of crumbling to pieces.

Matei climbed up on to the window ledge and with some quick calculation and a lot of faith, he jumped, landing quite gracefully only a few metres away from Jana.

She looked startled for a moment, but Matei held out his arms, and she ran into them gratefully. He cautiously stroked her hair and found it soft and feather like and it shimmered in the half-moon light like rose blossom. He was struck by just how small she was and amazed that someone so powerful and so amazing as an alpha could be that tiny. He wanted to protect her, even more so than he protected his sister, and in spite of the fact that he'd never be allowed to wrap her up in cotton wall- not unless he wanted to become dog food of course.

"You have to tell me if-," he began nervously.

"I wouldn't be here at three am," Jana began, in a trembling voice, "If I believed you were really a threat."

"So you trust me now?" Matei asked, hope tugging at his heart even though his head screamed at his heart to be reasonable.

Jana smiled, nodding gently, reaching up to brush the tears out of her eyes.

"Hey, it's ok," Matei said, placing his hand gently on her cheek to brush away one of her tears, "Everything will be ok."

Jana reached up to place a hand on Matei's, not sure quite what to do. In the past she would have pushed his hand away, and possibly slapped him too for overstepping the mark with his alpha. But now... Gods she felt so confused! On the one hand she should still keep him at bay, but this was Matei and he'd proved that he was no longer the guy he was a month or so ago. In fact Jana doubted that Matei had ever completely been that wrong and twisted guy. And then she was standing outside of his window at three in the morning, and even if Jana was still a little sleep dazed, her instincts had led her here.

Instincts were everything, especially to a wild wolfblood- ex-wild wolfblood, she correct herself. Instincts came first, complicated human emotions second. And every fibre of her wolf and human self wanted to be near him.

So that was love, Jana thought to herself, or at least attraction. She didn't know. She'd felt something similar with Rhydian. But with Rhydian it had been a girly and childish crush, something a cub would do. With Matei- this was a connection between to alphas, something much more complicated and somewhat frightening.

Not because it was Matei who frightened her, but because in admitting her feelings to herself Jana was becoming even more of an alpha and losing what she was to become someone new and probably better, and she feared that Matei might be too out of her reach for her to ever have that connection she desired with him.

Jana looked down at herself in horror. Scruffy old blue t shirt and fade grey sweat pants, and rabbit slippers- could she be less out together. And of course, Matei was looking perfect, Jana thought to herself, even bed head looked good on him- his hair was ruffled in the most attractive way, and he wore a Game of Thrones t shirt- House Stark, naturally- and black hoodie top. The ring still hung on it's black chain around his neck.

"We should go inside," Matei suggested, "The only problem is we'll have to climb. All of the doors are locked."

Jana nodded understandingly, "I can do that."

"Are you sure?" Matei asked concerned, Jana was shaking violently- maybe from stress and probably from the cold too, "I can carry you, if you'd like?"

"I'm your alpha," Jana began, "No, just no. This isn't all Bella and Edward."

Matei smiled and Jana almost lost her balance with the rush of emotions to her heart.

"I just mean," Matei began, "It's just a long way to climb and well, I've climbed it before, on some full moons."

"It's not Everest," Jana said with a shake of her head, before grabbing onto a section of drainpipe and pulling herself up to a window ledge, she pulled herself up onto the roof of the porch and waited for Matei to join her.

"I didn't think the wildies taught parkour," Matei said as he followed her swift, pulling himself up to sit next to her and taking a moment to look at the half-moon above.

Jana rolled her eyes, "Come on, it's freezing out here."

Jana began to climb fast, not really caring too much about handholds and footholds but just trying to get inside as quickly as possible, because she was shivering more and more now and her hands and feet felt numb. She could tell that it would rain soon too and that made her panic...

She felt herself slip and gave a little scream before landing with a thud on the roof below, a good five or so metres below where she was.

Matei was silent with shock and unsure what to do.

"Jana, Jana, please," he just begged, tears clouding his eyes. He didn't know whether he should hug her or not move her in case he injured her more. She just lay there, eyes closed, clutching her arm to her chest, but still very still.

"What on earth was that?" he heard a voice call out from the room next to the porch roof. At least it was Emilia, and not his foster parents.

"Matei?" Emilia asked in confusion, as she looked out the window, "What are you doing?"

"It's Jana," Matei began between sobs, "We were climbing up to my window and she fell. And now I don't know what to do."

"Matei, you need to calm down," Emilia commanded, "Have you checked if she's breathing ok?"

"What?" Matei asked in exasperation and shock, "I can't..."

"You have to check," Emilia said to him.

Matei knelt down beside Jana, gently brushing a strand of hair away from her face. He watched her closely to see if she was breathing and after a few moments was reassured that Jana was breathing alright, all be it a little fast and shallowly.

He looked back at the window, expecting to see Emilia but instead he saw a puzzled and concerned Amanda and an extremely confused and disappointed looking John.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"Jana, for goodness sake," Katrina said in a panic as she stood inside her flatmate's bedroom, "Where on earth are you? I'm worried sick. You said you'd call me if anything happened? Please call me back as soon as you get this."

Katrina heard a knock on the door and ran towards it, about to give Jana an earful of it for all the worry she had caused.

Instead TJ stood there looking timidly and sadly at Katrina.

"TJ, what is it?" Katrina asked in a panicked tone, "Is it Jana?"

TJ nodded, "You should come with me. Jana had an accident."

Katrina gasped loudly in shock, "What? Will she be ok?"

"The team from Segolia are helping her," TJ said, "She was at Matei's house. She fell when they were trying to climb up to his window."

Katrina tried to hold back tears, "Will she be ok, TJ?"

The boy looked away, "She hasn't woken up yet."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Matei lay next to Jana, glad that his foster parents had allowed him to get a double bed. He had tucked the duvet around her still form and spent most of the time fussing about pillows and blankets, just to try to be useful. Because there really wasn't much any of them could do until Jana woke up.

There was a split on her left arm and it was badly fractured, according to Doctor Whitewood, and Jana was covered in cuts and bruises, a particularly nasty cut on her shoulder.

Matei felt sick inside, if only he'd taken his key with him, instead of being an idiot and thinking he could just climb back inside. Even John had something to that effect... Not calling him an idiot of course. And of course, now his foster parents thought Matei had been breaking all the rules, like he'd ever degrade Jana, his alpha, like that.

But he'd still hurt her, Matei thought to himself, he'd still absolutely hurt her.

Emilia smiled as she stood in the doorway.

"Jana's tough," Emilia reassured him, "She'll be ok."

"She's been knocked out for hours," Matei answered in a chocked voice, "Do you know if they're taking her to Segolia?"

Emilia nodded, "Soon. But they'll let you stay with her. John's changed his mind, Amanda him convinced that you and Jana weren't you know."

"Of course we weren't," Matei began angrily, "Do you think I would ever just use Jana for something like that? She was upset, absolutely miserable about something, and she came to me for help, because she trusted me. And then I decided to show off, instead of just knocking at the door like any normal person would do. And now look where it got me..."

"Matei," Emilia began, "You couldn't have known."

Matei crumpled into a ball, hiding his face from the world, which felt to him like the right thing to do.

"What is all this yelling about?" John asked, bursting into the room and looking at the siblings with exasperation and sympathy, "Emilia go and help Amanda make some drinks for the doctors. Matei, I need you to listen to me."

Matei looked up nervously, but concluding that he deserved to be lectured and shouted out.

"Yelling and being upset isn't going to help Jana heal," John began calmly, "What you did was reckless, but considering I, and everyone else just heard the full story. Well, I can understand that you were just trying to help Jana. You're grounded for a month, Matei. Amanda and I have decided that. And I ever have any reason to suspect that you've been up to anything of that kind with any girl..."

Matei nodded, "I know. I wouldn't ever do. I know your rules. I would never use Jana like that."

"Good," John said simply, "But one thing. I've talked to Katrina. You're going to help out at the Kafe until Jana is well enough to work again, however long it takes, and you're going to help Jana too- things like cooking dinner and cleaning the flat, stuff like that. Keeping her company. You two obviously mean a lot to each other. You make sure you treat her well."

Matei nodded, "I definitely will."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Jana woke up in a dark room, there was light up above her, but there was dark blue lampshade on it. A careful look around her revealed dark blue painted walls and the same bookcases and desk that she had been seeing for the past week or so.

She tried to sit up, but a force on her uninjured shoulder stopped her.

She looked up to see Matei, who looked distraught but desperately trying to fight it. Jana wished she could tell him not to do that, to not be afraid to talk to her. Instead she reached for his hand and took it in hers.

He smiled and his eyes held unshed tears.

"This isn't Segolia," Jana said in a confused and dry voice, "I thought they would have taken me to Segolia."

"They took you there earlier, but they thought you'd be more comfortable here," Matei replied, "Jana, I'm so sorry. I was such an idiot."

"Hush," Jana said, "Don't ever say that. I'm going to be ok. We're going to both be ok."

Matei smiled as Jana squeezed his hand in reassurance.

"I need to sleep for a while," Jana said, "I promise I'll be awake later."

Matei nodded, but still felt a terrified pang in his heart.

Jana would be alright, he reassured himself, she had to be alright.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"There will be some retrograde amnesia," Dr Whitewood explained to the small group- Shannon, Tom, Katrina, Matei and Emilia and their grandparents, TJ and Imara, and Selina- that was gathered in Matei's foster parents living room, "And there is a bad fracture to her left arm, that will likely require an operation to fix. Our main concern at the moment is the extent of damage to the skull, fortunately it isn't fractured, but there is some swelling of some surrounding tissues. It is too early to say what the impact of this might be but Jana is already making good progress."

Katrina bit her lip to keep from crying. At least Jana was going survive. When she saw her earlier. If only she had been more adamant, argued with Jana more.

"And what about her parents?" Amanda asked, "Have you contacted them?"

Dr Whitewood sighed, "Jana's family situation is complicated. Her parents are travellers but Jana decided to stay here. We are trying to contact them but it will take some time."

Imara nodded, "Segolia's priority is to help Jana. We'll try to get in touch with her parents after that."

The group sat in silence for a few minutes before there were a few whispered conversations.

Shannon walked over to Dr Whitewood and in a hush voice said, "What about Ceri? Wolfblood healing might help."

"Shannon," Dr Whitewood said gently, "If this had happened in the wild pack Jana would have likely died."

Matei heard that and stalked off upstairs. He knew it wasn't fair to the others, that they had as much right to be at Jana's side as he did. He grabbed Jana's phone from where it sat on his desk- he had to do something, if they were just content to let things just wander along, well he wasn't, if there was some way to help Jana...

He scrolled through her contacts list, trying to find Ceri's name, but nothing, nothing at all.

And then finally.

Rhydian.

He was Ceri's son, wasn't he?

Matei pressed the green call key and waited.

"Hello?" said the voice on the other end.


	10. Chapter 10

"Jana?" the voice asked, "Jana?"

"Erm, hi," Matei began uncertainly.

"Who are you?" the voice replied aggressively, "Why do you have Jana's phone?"

"I'm Matei," Matei began nervously, "I'm a friend of Jana's."

"A friend of Jana's?" the voice questioned, "Jana has never mentioned anyone called Matei before."

"I'm a friend of TJs," Matei said quickly, "And also a friend of Jana's. Are you Rhydian?"

The voice on the over end of the phone sighed loudly, "Yes. Now tell where Jana is."

"Jana had an accident," Matei began, "She's at my house in Gateshead, Newcastle. 13 Glenn Gardens. Look Rhydian, your mum, Ceri, I think she might be able to help Jana-."

"Wait! What do you mean an accident?" Rhydian interrupted. Matei could hear a girl calling out something.

"She fell," Matei said with a shaky voice, "She was climbing up to a window and she fell."

"Is she?" Rhydian said with a chocked voice, "Is she going to die?"

Matei brushed the tears out of his eyes, "No, she's going to live but she's got a bad injury to her head. Segolia just wants to wait and see what happens, but I can't just..."

Rhydian growled, "Jana's like a sister to me. You can tell Segolia that I'll be there soon, and they'll have me to talk to. Do you have a pen?"

Matei grabbed a pen and notepad from the nearby table, "Yes."

"The address is Moonshadow Cottage, East Lane, Stoneybridge," Rhydian replied as Matei wrote furiously, "There is a train from Gateshead that runs to Stoneybridge but its a good 3km from the house."

"I'm a wolfblood," Matei said simply, "And for Jana I'd..."

Rhydian sighed, "If you're some lousy boyfriend who almost ended up getting her killed I'll..."

The girl called out again, but Matei couldn't make out what she was saying.

"Look, just go that address," Rhydian said snappily, "I'll be seeing you later anyway."

Matei heard a whimper behind him and turned to see Jana slowly waking up. She looked at him in confusion and reached out for her phone. Matei passed it to her, glad that he no longer had to speak because his guilt was beginning to consume him again.

"Rhydian?" Jana began croakily.

"Jana!" Rhydian exclaimed, "Don't worry we'll be in Gateshead soon. Maddy's parents have just booked up the flights and we're leaving just now. It will only be few hours. And who's this Matei?"

"Just a friend," Jana replied quickly, "You can trust him."

"A friend you never told me anything about?" Rhydian asked suspiciously, "We'll talk about it when I arrive. Just rest now."

"I will," Jana reassured him, "Bye."

Jana smiled at Matei in thank you. Too tired to say much else.

Matei sat beside her on the bed, brushing a strand of hair away from her warm forehead. Jana blushed and looked away shyly.

"It's ok," Matei said, "I just need to go somewhere for a while. To Stoneybridge, to go get Ceri. She'll help you. I promise I'll be back before you even know it."

Matei noticed Jana looking in the direction of the doorway, and Matei looked up to notice Katrina standing there holding a tray of food.

"Your foster mum insisted on you both having a good lunch," Katrina said placing the tray down gently on the bed, "And Segolia said that Jana has to have a high protein diet, hence the meat feast."

Jana looked at the tray of food ravenously-black pudding, bacon, egg, sausages-all her favourites-, but a nausea spread throughout her a moment later and Matei and Katrina registered her look.

"Jana, are you ok?" Katrina asked flustered, "It's the morphine, isn't it? Dr Whitewood said that nausea is common. I'll just go and get her."

Matei looked at Jana with wide eyed concern, she was so pale now and shaky too, "Jana, please."

"Matei," Jana said with a tired voice, "Just get Ceri, please."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Matei rang the doorbell again and fidgeted nervously, hoping that they weren't out. What on earth would he do if they were?

The door burst open to reveal a tall, dark haired man, with tan skin and a comedic air about him.

"So you are Matei?" Gerwyn asked with curiosity, "Rhydian said you were coming. Come in, Ceri is just preparing everything. We'll leave as soon as she is ready."

Matei walked into the main living room where a woman with long brown hair and kind brown eyes was sitting arranging various bottles and jars which were spread out before her.

Ceri looked up at Matei curiously, sniffing the air gently, "We can trust him. Rhydian was just being overprotective."

"Of course," Gerwyn said, with some uncertainty. Jana and Rhydian were like brother and sister, and inevitably Gerwyn felt that he should be a father to Jana too. The idea of Jana hanging around with boys like Matei...

Ceri sniffed the air again, "You've spent too much time in the city. Your senses are still dulled. You smell Jana's scent and his, but they are not separate."

"You don't mean?" Gerwyn said with a cheeky smile.

"Not now," Ceri snapped, "What did the Segolia people say?"

"A broken arm," Matei answered, "A lot of cuts and bruises, and, and... Some swelling and bruising to her brain."

Gerwyn cussed loudly, "How on earth?"

"It was all my fault," Matei replied, bursting out crying, "Jana turned up in the middle of the night upset, so I jumped out of my window to go talk to her. But I didn't have my key and instead of doing the sensible thing and knocking I decided we should climb back up. We'd reached the porch roof and then Jana decided to climb up first, but she slipped... I'm so sorry, I'm so so sorry, I'm so sorry."

Ceri walked over to the young boy and hugged him tightly, "We can still help her, now. And when Jana is healed more then I'll tell you something you need to know. For now just understand that Jana needs you and you need her. She's needs her alpha. She needs you to be her alpha. I'm ready to go."

Gerwyn nodded, as Ceri and Matei followed him to the car.

"I need to be strong for her," Matei answered, "Why don't you hate me?"

"If you knew what I know," Ceri replied, "And saw what I can see. You'd know that Jana couldn't be safer when she's around you."

Matei shook his head, "That's not true. I almost killed her."

Ceri shook her head angrily, "Don't ever say that! Don't ever think like that! She needs an alpha now Matei. You need to be strong for her."

"Ceri," Gerwyn said cautiously, "I agree. But now is not the time nor the place. Where to?"

"13 Glenn Gardens," Matei replied.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"I saw what Matei did," Katrina said, helping Jana to sit up a little. Her head spun from the movement and she still wasn't sure if she could stomach food.

Jana nodded understandingly, and instantly regretted it as pain shot through the back of her head. She winced and Katrina gave her a concerned look.

"If he ever does anything," Katrina replied, "I'll... He can't think that just because you're injured that he has you at his mercy or whatever. He's spent practically all day up here with you. If Matei ever hurts you..."

"He never would," Jana said weakly, "I can't explain, but I know now that he never would."

"Do you like him?" Katrina asked in surprise, "Because I thought you like TJ."

Jana smiled, "TJ's a friend. Matei is... More. I like Matei. It feels good to say out loud."

"Have you said it to him yet?" Katrina asked, "Because you know how many relationships never happen because of poor communication."

Jana smiled, ignoring the pain, "Matei and I, we don't exactly talk about our feelings much. But I know what Matei is feeling, just as much he knows what I'm feeling. We don't need to say anything to know that we mean a lot to each other."

There was a word for that, Jana thought to herself, but it was not a word to be used in front of humans. Could Matei be that person?

"Jana you look flushed," Katrina answered, "I swear Matei's trying to cook you with all these blankets. He's gone completely insane. I heard him reading to you earlier- you know Jeffries terrible book."

"Matei likes it," Jana replied, "Says he wants Jeffries to write a sequel."

Katrina laughed, "Matei is a man of mystery, isn't he? I never had him down as a book nerd. And he's a real gentlemen too, always buying drinks for you when we're at work, and when you're on shift he just follows you around with like a lost puppy. The way he looks at you, it's so cute. I just worried that he had this dark side, I worried what might happen. But if you're sure then... Well you should just ask him out."

Jana blushed, "Matei has a dark side, but it's not what you think. He lost someone really important and he doesn't like talking about it."

"I know his parents died in a fire," Katrina answered.

Jana smiled, "Other than that. Matei is all light. He's just misunderstood really, because he's quiet and broody. And I will talk to him about liking him. I think he likes me too."

"I can tell," Katrina answered, "He is obsessed but in a kind of Romeo and Juliet type way. Just don't do what those two did and get married after barely knowing each other."

But I know his heart by heart, Jana thought to herself, as cringe worthy as it sounded. There was no way she was just going to marry anyone but she knew Matei incredibly well.

Jana nodded.

"Now, food," Katrina replied, "You should really eat something."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

TJ growled menacingly as he heard the conversation from where he sat on the stairs. So Matei had stolen Jana's heart, well he had to stop Matei from breaking it pieces. Jana was already injured because of him. Why couldn't Jana have just gone to him instead? The none of this would have ever happened.

It was true that TJ didn't fancy Jana. He only really liked Selina. But Jana was his alpha. At least he knew what appropriate behaviour around his alpha looked like. Maybe Matei needed to be taught where the line was...

Katrina burst from the room above, panic stricken, crying violently.

TJ jumped up immediately, trying his hardest not to vein up.

Because he knew what Katrina was going to yell next.

That little heart beat he'd gotten so used to hearing had just gone silent.

Jana was gone.

 _Thanks for the reviews!_


	11. Chapter 11

Matei burst through the door, already aware of the commotion inside. Ceri and Gerwyn followed behind him, just as panicked as he was. He didn't need Katrina or Emilia's screaming to tell him what had happened.

His wolfblood senses allowed him to the heartbeats of everyone in the room. Now there was one less.

Jana was dead.

Matei wanted to rip every part of himself into shreds. He had killed her, he though to himself, he was a murderer.

He raced up the stairs to his room where there was a large medical team all standing around the bed, speaking in hurried voices, there was medical equipment everywhere and several machines making loud beeping noises.

"How long has it been now?" one of the doctors asked.

"Four minutes," another of the doctors replied in an exasperated tone, "If anything's going to happen it will happen soon. At least they initiated CPR almost instantaneously. But the damage..."

Matei fell to the ground with shock, he had to do something, he couldn't just stand there and do nothing... He couldn't just let Jana go.

"We were just talking," Katrina said between sobs, "And then Jana went really pale of a sudden and faint. Then she started gasping for air, and I ran out and called Dr Whitewood for help. When I came back she... Those doctors arrived a couple of minutes later."

Matei nodded, unaware that he was even moving at all. The rest of the world was just a blur to him and one thing repeated in his mind and over and over again.

He had to save her, he absolutely had to save her, if there was any way at all, if she could still be saved...

Matei burst into the room, ignoring the angry voices of the doctors. He almost fainted when looked at her. She was pale white and her lips were slightly blue. He grabbed for her hand and found that it was surprising still quite warm.

"Jana!" he yelled, as sobs tore through him, "Jana, please. Please wake up! Jana, you can't leave us! We need you! You're our alpha, you can't leave! We need you! I need you!"

"Matei," Dr Whitewood said, she tried to pull him away.

"NO!" he yelled furiously, his eyes flashing bright yellow and his hands and face cover in the black wolfblood veins.

He held on tightly to Jana's hand as if he could somehow send some of his own life, some of his own soul to her, and will her back to life. It had been done before, surely? If someone loved someone that much they could bring them back. That had to be possible.

"Jana," Matei said, in a quiet chocked voice, "I love you, Jana."

Then he kissed her, feeling her cool lips against his. This had to work, this had to work... Because... This couldn't be the only time that he ever kissed her... The last time that he got to hold her in his arms.

He sobbed into her hair, loud and ungraceful sobs that shook him.

"Matei," Amanda said, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder, "Let her go."

Matei shook his head ferociously.

"They've done what they can," Amanda continued, tears running down her face, "You just have to let her go."

"NEVER!" Matei yelled, "I'LL NEVER GIVE UP ON HER!"

Matei kissed Jana again, concentrating hard on trying to will her back to life. Repeating the same word in his mind over and over again, Live, live, live, live, live, live, live.

And then he felt it. A tiny flutter under his palm, like the wings of the beautiful butterfly. And then that feeling grew stronger and stronger until it was a strong and definite and repetitive thud.

She was alive.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Emilia watched interestedly as Ceri prepared the herbs, using a pestle and mortar to create smooth paste and adding water to it gradually to create something with the consistency of a smoothie.

Rosemary, chamomile, lavender, mint, sage, and whole other load of herbs that Emilia had never heard of before. But they would help, they would help even more than human medicine could ever do.

They sat at a table in one of the main meeting rooms of Segolia. Jana was being operated on in one of the other laboratories- it had been five hours since they had arrived there but everyone was still to shocked to say anything all.

And Matei. Emilia had only ever seen him like this before once- when she'd opened her eyes just after he'd rescued her from the fire. He looked like he'd been destroyed, he just sat next the door, staring out of the glass window along the side of it, not moving at all.

She had never realised how much Matei loved Jana, until that day. No one had. Emilia was aware that Ceri and Gerwyn were curious about it, but she suspected they knew something more than they were letting, maybe there was some wild wolfblood explanation...

Like how Emilia was a fire-walker and that was supposed to mean something. That she had some important destiny, that's what Meinir had said. But no amount of Google, trips to the library or museums had helped her to figure it all out. She would have to find a way to visit the wild pack again, and something told her that she would see them soon.

A tall blonde haired boy and a smaller brown haired girl burst into the room. They looked about the same age as Jana.

"Mum," the blonde haired boy said, rushing over to Ceri and hugging her like a terrified cub.

"I know," Ceri replied simply, "They're just operating now. They say she's doing well, but it's still critical. It will be some time before she's out of the woods, Rhydian."

"I never should have left her," Rhydian said, "I should have insisted on her coming to Canada with us."

"No, Rhydian," the brown haired girl replied, "You couldn't have foreseen this."

"Maddy," Rhydian began, trying to hold back tears, "Jana is like a sister to me. She needed me today and I wasn't there for her. I let her down."

"You didn't," Maddy reassured, "We did what we could."

"Where's Matei?" Rhydian asked in a slightly menacing tone.

Emilia jumped up from where she was sitting and moved to stand between Rhydian and her brother.

"What do you want to speak to my brother for?" Emilia asked.

Rhydian didn't answer and instead pushed past Emilia, walking towards where Matei sat, staring at the floor, completely dazed.

"I killed her," Matei said to himself in a distraught whisper, "I killed her. I killed her. I killed her."

Rhydian grabbed the boy by the collar of his coat and slammed him into the wall. Matei didn't respond at all and when Rhydian released him, he fell to the ground again.

"Fight back you coward!" Rhydian yelled at him, punching Matei again and again, ignoring the yells of Maddy, his mum and Emilia and fighting against Gerwyn's grip.

And Matei just took it, not allowing himself to feel hurt at all because he felt as if he deserved all of it.

"Stop!" Selina yelled as her and TJ entered the room, "You're hurting him!"

"It wasn't Matei's fault!" TJ yelled, allowing his eyes to flash gold to emphasise his point, "It was an accident."

"Rhydian, you have to listen to me," Ceri said in a panicked tone, "Matei brought her back. You can't attack her, you'll be hurting Jana too."

"He killed her!" Rhydian yelled, "Jana brought herself back. I'm not letting my sister anywhere near him! He's a lowlife murderous scum bag!"

"Do you even know what happened?" TJ asked, "Jana fell whilst climbing up to a window. Matei didn't hurt her in any way."

Rhydian paused for a moment, "Why was Jana trying to climb through a window?"

"She wanted to talk to Matei," Emilia explained, "She was upset and it was the middle of the night and she wanted to see Matei. Matei jumped out of his window to talk to her. But he forgot his key and then they decided to climb back up."

Rhydian shook his head, "You could have just used the doorbell. Instead of putting her in danger and getting her killed!"

"I know," Matei answered before repeating his mantra of 'I killed her' over and over again.

Rhydian punched Matei again, hard in the eye, and that was when he felt it.

That steady thud that he'd been hearing and took comfort in hearing had turned into a manic fluttering.

"Jana!" Matei yelled before rushing out of the room and into the main corridor. He stopped outside of the makeshift operating room, trying to pull open the door but it was locked.

Imara appeared a moment later, alongside Amanda and John, and a couple of other Segolia employees.

Amanda looked at him apologetically, "I'm sorry Matei."

"You need to come with us," John said to him, "Jana will be ok."

"If I'm not there-," Matei began in an exasperated voice. But already Jana's heart beat was getting stronger again.

Matei let out a sigh of relief.

"She'll be ok," Imara reassured him, "The best doctors are helping her. You need to come with us."

But Matei just stopped still, looking into the room, and his hands holding on tightly to the door handle.

He didn't even notice when Imara motioned to the Segolia employees.

Amanda smiled nervously, "Please, Matei. We didn't want to do this the other way."

But Matei continued to stand still, not moving in the slightest.

Imara nodded and the man fired.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"When do you think she'll wake up?" Katrina asked.

Emilia looked at the sleeping Jana with sad eyes, "I don't know. They said that the first twenty four hours are the most critical."

Jana didn't look as pale as she looked before but she still look sickly. There was a bandage around her head and she was attached to various IVs and monitoring equipment.

"This is Jana we're on about," Katrina answered, "She wouldn't just give up now."

Emilia nodded, "I'm just worried for her. I might be twelve but I'm not naive. Jana's not going to be just like she was before."

"We don't know what to expect," Katrina admitted, "But you are right, it could take her months to recover fully."

If she does recover fully, those words hug in the air but neither of them dared to say them out loud.

Maddy and Rhydian walked into the room quietly, shocked to see Jana like that and feeling powerless.

"Jana's parents should be here," Katrina complained.

Rhydian nodded, "Her dad should be here."

"Really?" Maddy asked doubtfully.

Rhydian nodded again, "He does really love her Maddy."

Maddy contemplated that but was still doubtful, "We brought over the things you asked for."

"Thank you," Katrina said, "I just know that Jana would be happier if she has some thing from home."

Rhydian reached into the bag and pulled out a red stuffed toy wolf and placed it carefully next to Jana.

Katrina smiled, "She's going to be ok. I just know that. It's Matei that I worry about."

Rhydian sighed, "I feel so bad for beating him up. I don't know what happened, I just snapped."

"Jana's like a sister to you," Emilia answered, "Matei will understand. He'd probably have hit you a lot harder if it was me who nearly died."

"Where is Matei?" Katrina asked, "I know I complained about him monopolising Jana but he should be here. I don't know why but I have this feeling that Matei brought Jana back to life and that she won't wake up until he's back."

"He's sleeping," Emilia said.

Amanda and John had talked to Emilia after Matei was taken to one of the cells. Apparently they knew everything now about the wolfbloods and whilst they were shocked and worried about what it would mean for them as a family, they still wanted Emilia and Matei to live with them. However they were very worried about Matei and he'd been sedated until a councillor could arrive to talk to him.

TJ and Selina walked into the room both carrying bags filled with food.

"Let's face it none of us are cooking dinner tonight," TJ said, trying to relieve the tension, "And if Jana wakes up then there's going to be trouble if she's hungry and there's no food around."

Katrina smiled, "I know what Jana's like with her food."

TJ started to place packets of biscuits and crisps and cakes and several packets of sausage rolls and pork pies onto the table at the end of the bed.

"Jana's always been a deep sleeper," Rhydian replied, "But she always woke up instantly when she could smell food. Maybe this will help."

Emilia smiled, "Hopefully it will."

Selina nodded, "I don't really know Jana all that well. But I know that she's not going to ever give up. Because she's never once given up on any of us. Giving up is just not part of her nature."

"We should do a toast," TJ suggested grabbing a packet of plastic cubs and a bottle of Fanta.

Once everyone had their drinks ready, Rhydian was the first one to speak.

Unshed tears threatened to choke him as he looked at his sister.

"Jana," Rhydian said simply before everyone raised their cups. He couldn't make a speech then, he was too overwhelmed with emotion. And just saying her name encompassed every emotion that everyone in the room felt.

"You better not go anywhere, Jana," TJ said to the sleeping girl, "Because there's no one make chicken schnitzel burgers with quite as many chillies as you do. And I'd miss that."

Katrina laughed, "Extra chillies. I've never noticed Jana doing that before. I think it was just you TJ. But you're right, you better not go anywhere, Jana, I mean who else like Tunisian sandcastles?"

Everyone laughed a little sadly.

"Or goes crazy every time black pudding is on an offer at Asda," Rhydian added.

"Or hangs up the phone with 'I'm going to end the call now,'" Maddy answered.

"Or mid-conversation," TJ added, "My mum used to love that."

Katrina laughed, "That is true actually. Does Jana still not really know phones work?"

Rhydian nodded, "And dishwashers. I think she tried to put an electric kettle in one before."

Katrina looked horrified, "You know Jana never really talked much about her life on the road. It sounds so exciting, living like that. I can't believe I used to be so horrible to her when we were at school."

"Things have changed now," Rhydian answered, "I guess Jana doesn't talk much about the past because what's going on right now, and the people she has around her, that's what matters to her most."

Maddy nodded in agreement, "Jana absolutely loves living in the modern world. That's why she stayed. Although I never thought she'd actually move to the city."

Rhydian laughed a little, "She does seem to like it here though."

"That's probably because she works in a cafe," TJ answered.

"A Kafe," Katrina replied, "And I think it's because of Matei as well. I don't know what is going on between them, but I'm pretty sure I made a good decision casting them as Romeo and Juliet."

"Romeo and Juliet?" Maddy asked.

"The Kafe's play," Katrina replied, "I guess it's not going to happen now."

Rhydian shrugged, "I wouldn't be so certain of that. You could always cast someone else until Jana is better."

"It's supposed to be a couple though," Katrina replied.

"We'll do it," Maddy announced.

"We will?" Rhydian replied.

"Yes, we will," Maddy said, giving him a warning look.

"Great!" Katrina answered, "Matei was a pretty terrible Romeo, and I think he's going to be glad about having someone else play his part."

"It would be a good way to make it up to him," Rhydian replied, "After punching him like that."

"You know there's only supposed to be three people in the room at any one time," Imara said from the doorway, "But I'll let it go just this once."

TJ smiled, "Thanks, mum."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"You need to talk to us," Amanda said to a still sleepy Matei.

"I'm fine," Matei replied, he needed to be with Jana, he didn't want to be talking about his feelings.

Amanda shook her head, "Don't lie to me, Matei. You were in severe emotional shock. I know you love Jana but..."

"I don't understand either," Matei answered, "But I brought her back. And I need to be there for her now. So that she can get better."

Amanda smiled, "We'll all help her get better. She's being looked after by the best wolfblood doctors in the world. She needs you to look after yourself first. She'd want you to be happy."

Matei looked at the floor, "I don't deserve to be happy. It's always the same, every time I say or do something wrong then I end up losing someone I love."

"Matei?" Amanda asked, hugging the crying boy.

"The day of the fire," Matei answered, "I had this argument with my mum about not be allowed to watch a movie at the cinema, because she wanted me to stay in and revise. And then the fire happened. And I said some really awful things about Jana, and then..."

"I don't imagine that you ever meant any of those things you said," Amanda answered, "I've seen the way you look at her. You'd never hurt her. You can't blame yourself for things that were out of your control."

Matei stared at the ground awkwardly, "I think Jana wanted me to talk to someone about how things are for. About how I still get nightmares."

"I know," Amanda answered, "And Segolia and John and I are going to help you. And I'm sure Jana will too, once she's well enough."

"What did the doctors say?" Matei asked.

"Are you sure-," Amanda answered.

"I can handle it," Matei answered.

"Jana suffered a cardiac arrest," Amanda began, "Because one of the blood vessels in her brain burst. In the hypothalamus- the part of the brain that controls heart rate and breathing. They've operated on her to stop the bleeding and at it is working. They say that it's fifty fifty as whether or not she'll survive. If she doesn't wake up in the next twenty four hours, then the chances of her making a full recovery will be low. Matei?"

Matei nodded understandingly, "I'll make sure she makes a full recovery. Whatever I have to do, I'll do it."

Amanda nodded, "I know you will. But she's going to need a lot of help. We don't know how much damage there has been. She might need to learn everything all again- how to speak, how to walk, her personality might be different too. She might well end up being someone completely different from the girl you knew before."

"I'd still stand by her," Matei replied.

Amanda nodded, "I know you will. But it would be hard on anyone. You're only sixteen and the last thing you need right now is trying to take care of someone so ill. Segolia has suggested sending Jana away to one of their rehabilitation facilities."

Matei shook his head, "Her family is here."

"That's what John and I argued," Amanda replied, "Which is why Jana will be staying in Newcastle. We're just not sure that being at the flat would be best for Jana. She needs adults to look after her."

Matei's face lit up in hope. Having Jana live with them would be great.

Amanda shook her, "No, Matei. It won't be like that. You two need to have some distance, it's healthy for the both of you. And living in the same house, you'd never leave her side. And you have other things to think about like school and exams. You can't let the rest of your life fall apart."

"I know," Matei answered.

"Let's go and see her, shall we?" Amanda said, putting an arm around Matei's shoulders.

"Is John mad at me?" Matei asked, "He hasn't spoken to me all day."

"No, no," Amanda reassured him, "He's just going home with Emilia, he's trying to make sure she has as normal a routine as possible. That's what was recommended. And he's having a hard time getting his head around the idea of raising up two wolfbloods. He'll see you in the morning."

Matei nodded in understanding as they walked into Jana's room. It was completely pitch black except for the lights of the monitors and a single lava lamp placed on a shelf.

"Apparently, Jana gets a little afraid of the dark," Amanda explained.

Matei smiled, sitting carefully on the edge of the bed and taking Jana's hand in both of his.

"I'll give you two some privacy," Amanda said before leaving the room.

"Thank you," Matei said, before looking at Jana again.

It was hard to see her all that well in the darkness but he could feel her pulse and it was steady and strong, and she appeared to be breathing for herself now too. She was already doing so well.

Matei kissed her gently, stroking her hair and brushing her curls with his fingers.

"I'm here," he said, "I'm here now."

He kissed her cheek and almost jumped up in surprise.

Jana stared up at him with tired eyes and smiled.

"Matei," Jana said, in a voice barely above a whisper, "Fy enaid cymar alffa."


	12. Chapter 12

Katrina woke up suddenly as a loud crash sounded in the Kafe below. She panicked, had she remembered to lock the door? What was she supposed to do? Should she call the police? What if it was like last time- when Jana's friends had visited in the middle of the night? Katrina hated being alone by herself at the flat. She missed hanging out with Jana. She missed Friday movie and takeaway nights and Sunday roast dinners. And right now, she missed Jana's way of just knowing whether something was alright or not.

Katrina tiptoed downstairs, holding on tightly to her phone in one hand and a saucepan in the other. As she reached the bottom of the stairs, she noticed that there were three people in the room. An extremely tall dark haired man, and two people that Katrina already recognised as Meinir and Aran.

Aran smiled as he noticed Katrina and Katrina couldn't help laughing as he held up a raw burger with an extremely guilty look.

"Sorry," Aran said, "These are the best burgers in Newcastle."

"Erm thanks," Katrina replied, "But next time could you turn up during the daytime."

"We don't have time for all of this," the tall man snapped, "Where's my daughter? What have they done with her?"

So this was Alric, Katrina thought, he looked familiar and Katrina was sure she'd met him before.

"Where is she?" he asked, staring at Katrina menacingly.

"She's at Segolia," Katrina answered, "I'll just text Dr Whitewood, she said that she was expecting you."

"How is Jana?" Aran asked.

"She woke up a couple of days ago," Katrina replied, "And she's improving slowly. She's able to stay awake for longer, she's speaking a lot more. But she's different- a lot more emotional- they said that she'll be at Segolia for at least another couple of weeks and then she's going to either move in with Imara or Ceri and Gerwyn."

"I'm not letting her live with Imara," Aran replied, "Not after the ultimatum that woman gave us the last time. We can only trust Ceri and Gerwyn."

"I agree," Meinir added, "She needs to be with her family."

"You mean her mum and her step-dad?" Katrina asked.

"What?" Alric asked with confusion, "What on earth do you mean girl? Ceri and Gerwyn are Rhydian's parents."

"Rhydian's parents?" Katrina exclaimed, "But I thought his parents abandoned him?"

"No," Alric replied, "It was all a big misunderstanding."

"So is Jana, Rhydian's half sister?" Katrina asked, that would make sense but she was sure Jana used have a crush on Rhydian, and it would just be weird if they were related.

Meinir laughed, "Of course not, they never would have been betrothed if they were related."

"Betrothed?!" Katrina exclaimed.

"In our culture," Aran began tactfully, "Children can be betrothed as soon as they are born. Marriages are arranged but not forced. The two kids usually end up as best friends and that usually develops into something more. Rhydian was taken away from us when he was three, he never really got used to our customs again. Alric called off the engagement once he found out that Rhydian and Maddy are soulmates. I think that was just before Jana's fifteenth birthday."

Alric nodded.

"So what about Jana's mum?" Katrina asked, "Why hasn't she arrived yet?"

"Her mam died when Jana was four," Meinir explained, "In a car accident."

"I'm so sorry," Katrina answered, "I didn't realise. So your telling me that Jana has been all alone in this city without a single parent there for at all?"

"She has Ceri and Gerwyn," Alric argued.

"But you're her father," Katrina replied, "You should be here for her."

"It was Jana's choice to leave our way of life," Alric answered.

"You never call her or write at all," Katrina complained, "And Jana's told me about hard it is to live up to your expectations. How you're always disappointed with her."

"I've been trying to make amends," Alric answered.

"You can't do that by never contacting her," Katrina replied.

"Well I'm here now," Alric said, "What does your scientist friend say?"

"Dr Whitewood says she'll be here soon," Katrina answered, "Then we'll go to Segolia."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Jana was playing with the remote controller for the bed when Matei and Emilia walked in. Matei smiled and walked over to kiss her. Emilia tutted and rolled her eyes.

"So are you bunking off again today?" Jana asked, before yawning.

"Emilia isn't," Matei explained, "She has to put up with TJ all day. I have a counselling meeting so Amanda and John let me have the day off. Have you had breakfast yet?"

"I woke up about five minutes ago," Jana replied, "I was trying to figure out how to make this bed go up. I'm not feeling all that hungry. I guess this is doing the trick too well."

Matei looked at the tube that was connected to a large yellow machine. Very soon Jana wouldn't need it anymore. She was beginning to eat and drink a lot more now. Although her appetite was still completely off- sometimes she wouldn't want to eat anything and would even feel sick at the mention of food and other times she would be able to eat a thousand or so calories in one sitting and still be hungry afterwards. According to the doctors that was normal for people with Jana's kind of injury. But it made Matei worry a lot.

"Well try to eat something," Matei encouraged her, "Dr Whitewood said you can have absolutely anything you like."

"I think some coffee would be good," Jana answered, "My head is pounding again. Don't worry, Matei, it's not as bad as before."

"It's good that you're awake a lot more," Emilia answered, grabbing the kettle, filling it up with water, and grabbing three cups from the drainer, "Because today is a very special day."

Jana frowned in confusion.

"Your Dad, Aran and Meinir arrived at the Kafe last night," Matei answered, "And they've just arrived. Dr Whitewood is just explaining everything to them. I guess I should probably be afraid."

"How many times do I have to tell you that none of this was your fault?" Jana answered exasperated.

"It's not that," Matei answered, "Although I expect them to blame me. It's just that I'm your boyfriend so, well fathers can be overprotective of their daughters."

Jana smiled, "I'll tell my Dad to shut up if he goes on too much. But I would be more worried about Meinir, she has a very dirty mind."

Emilia laughed, "I missed Meinir. I want her to tell me more about fire-walkers."

Matei smiled, "I'm sure she'll make time to tell you and maybe you could show her some of the human world."

"That sounds fun," Emilia said, "Maybe we could go to that new theme park that just opened."

"I'm not sure if that would be a good idea for wildies," Matei answered.

Jana smiled, "I don't know. It seems like the kind of thing that Meinir might like. If she learnt to ignore the noise. Now where were we Matei?"

Matei grabbed the book out of his bag.

"Y Gruffalo," Emilia said, "You're learning Welsh?"

Matei nodded, "Jana's teaching me. And the doctors said it would help Jana recover faster."

"And I need to practice my Welsh too," Jana added, "My dad will go nuts if I start forgetting it."

"Well then," Matei said, "Gadwetch I nee dechraw."

Jana rolled her eyes, "No, its gadewch i ni ddechrau."

"Yeah, what you just said," Matei responded.

"Ok, let's go over some basics," Jana began, "How do you say hello?"

"Shwumai,"Matei said

"Close," Jana said, "It's Shwmae. Now what about good morning."

"Borda," Matei replied.

"Nearly," Jana answered, "It's Borde Da. Bor-ed-a. And how would you respond to someone asking Pwy wyt ti?"

Matei sighed, "I'd apologise for my bad Welsh."

"No, you know this one," Jana encourage him.

"Matei dw i,"Matei replied as Jana clapped her hands in joy.

"See you're already doing so well," Jana answered, "Now how would you respond to sut wyt ti?"

"Iawn, diolch," Matei replied, "And sut wyt ti?"

"Stop trying to flirt Matei," Emilia said to her brother.

"Dwi'n iawn diolch, ychydig bach I wedi blino," Jana replied, earning a blank look from Matei, "I'm fine thanks, just a little tired."

"Well if you need to sleep," Matei replied, "Then just tell me."

"No," Jana protested, "We need to go through the Gruffalo again."

"Ok," Matei replied calmly, but he was worried. He knew Jana should really rest if she felt tired, but the last time he told her to sleep she'd started screaming at him and accused him of not loving her. He was having a hard time getting you used to Jana's mood swings.

Just as Matei started reading there was a knock at the door. He looked up to see Dr Whitewood and several people standing behind her- could that be Meinir and Aran?

"There's a few people who have come to see you," Dr Whitewood said, "Is that ok, Jana?"

Jana stared absentmindedly at her duvet for a good half a minute before nodding.

"Just remember what I said," Dr Whitewood said to Aran, Meinir and Alric, "She's still Jana but she may behave a little unusually and erratic. It is completely normal for people with her injury but if you're at all worried just press that blue button on the wall."

Alric nodded in understanding, "Thank you"

He walked over slowly to where Jana sat. He had never seen her look so fragile and vulnerable. Wires and tubes were connected to practically every part of her thin body and there was a bandage wrapped around her head and a plaster cast on her arm. Several of the machines beeped loudly, but Alric tried to block them out and just focus on his daughter. She was tiny and looked even smaller than when he last saw her. She was a little pale too, and looked tired.

"Jana, carriad," he said gently, as he sat on the bed next to her, "Sut wyt ti?"

Jana looked up at him with tear filled eyes and hugged her father fiercely, crying loudly. Alric didn't know what to make of that. Jana had been a little bit of a cry baby when she younger, but never like this. He didn't know how to respond, and awkwardly hugged her back carefully kissing her head.

"My alpha," Aran whispered in shock.

"Remember what I said," Dr Whitewood continued, "Jana's injuries mean that her body's mechanisms for managing her blood pressure, body temperature and blood sugars are all out of whack. She may react unusually because of low blood sugars or become of problems regulating her emotions. You have to make sure that she eats regularly and doesn't drink too much water. The physiotherapist will be here shortly. Emilia, aren't you supposed to be going to school?"

Emilia nodded glumly, earning a wink and a smile from Meinir.

"We'll talk later, little fire-walker," the older girl promised.

"I'll see you later," Emilia said to all of them before leaving.

"And you must be Matei," Alric said to the boy sitting in front of him, "Where to start, hey?"

"If you hurt him!" Jana yelled furiously, "I'll... I'll..."

"Jana," Matei said, putting a hand gently on hers, "I'm going to get you some breakfast."

"I want to thank you for looking after her," Alric replied, "You shouldn't blame yourself for the accident. Ceri told me that you are Jana's enaid cymar. I hope you understand that it's more than just fancy wording. You two are connected now, the pain you feel is the pain Jana feels and the joy you feel is the joy that Jana will feel."

Matei reached up to touch his still bruised face. Well that explained why Jana suddenly got so ill when Rhydian was beating him up.

"I'll be back in a minute, Jana," Matei said, trying to kiss her but she turned away.

"I'll help too," Aran said. He couldn't cope with seeing his alpha like that. This girl was no longer his Jana. She was someone different and unnatural and he needed time to get his head around that.

Jana looked up miserably, "You're all abandoning me."

"No, no," Matei reassured her, "Just going to get breakfast. They'll probably have black pudding again."

Jana smiled, "Make sure you get loads. You know how much I like black pudding."

"I'll help too," Meinir volunteered, wanting to give Alric some time with his daughter.

Jana watched curiously as they all left, not quite sure what to think.

"Do you remember anything from that night?" Alric asked, putting a reassuring arm around Jana's shoulders.

She nodded, "I had a bad nightmare and I wanted to see Matei so I went over to his house. He jumped out of the window but there was no way back in so we had to climb up to the window instead. I climbed onto the porch really easily. And then I went first climbing up to the window but there weren't may handholds and footholds and I could feel rain in the air. I went too fast and panicked and then I slipped. Then I was here."

Alric stroked her hair gently, sensing that Jana was getting upset at the memory.

"Are you mad at me?" Jana asked, picking at her duvet.

"I could never truthfully be mad at you," Alric said to his daughter, "I could never be disappointed by you either. You're my little girl. I just want you to be happy and safe."

Jana smiled, before bursting into tears again. Alric held her still as she cried, humming a lullaby that his wife, his own enaid cymar alffa, had taught him. He tried to remind himself of what Dr. Whitewood said. That it was still early days and Jana would get better. The fact that she was already talking, not only in English but in Welsh too, and that she was breathing on her own and able to fully move her arms and legs- these were all signs of things improving and improving very quickly. But, Alric thought with a sigh, would she ever be his Jana again? Or would she be plagued by mood swings all of her life? And what kind of life could she have? Maybe it would be better for her to live in the wild, at leas there she could rest and be looked after and no one would expect her to work or do any chores if she wasn't well enough.

But for now Alric just wanted to be with his daughter and protect her from everything, because what the human girl had said had hit a nerve.

He needed to there more for his daughter.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Aran slouched grumpily at one of the tables whilst Matei went to grab some breakfast from the buffet.

"You've been dragging your tail behind you ever since we saw Jana," Meinir said to him, "You knew she'd be different. You should just be glad that she survived."

"Maybe that's enough for you Meinir," Aran replied angrily, "But she's not Jana. Not anymore. And she might not be Jana ever again. And I'm not ok with that. That girl isn't my alpha anymore."

"Aran! She is your alpha!" Meinir snapped, "You will not talk about her with such disrespect. We must help her instead of focusing on what is wrong with her."

"She needs to go back to the wild," Aran protested, "She needs to be in nature, she won't heal here."

"The boy is here," Meinir argued, looking towards Matei, "He's her enaid cymar alffa. She won't go anywhere without him."

"Do you trust him?" Aran asked.

Meinir nodded, "He stopped me getting trapped in another human cage. And if he means so much to Jana, if he destined to be at her side for the rest of his life, then I trust in that."

"You've always put more faith in the gods and destiny than I ever have, May," Aran replied, "I used to rely on my trust in Jana. She was my god... Now I don't even know what she's going to do from one moment to the next."

"Trust the boy," Meinir replied, "And trust Alric too. He'll know what to do."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"We'll keep this session short," the physiotherapist said to Jana, "Because I know you haven't eaten yet and you need to make sure you have some breakfast soon. Now has Matei been helping you with your exercises?"

Jana nodded, "They're getting easier."

"Well we want to prevent muscle wasting," the woman continued, "It's even more of a problem in people with injuries to the hypothalamus. And we'll work on managing your dizziness too. Who knows maybe you'll be walking again soon."

Jana smiled, "It would be nice not to need all of these machines."

"Well they're planning to remove your feeding tube tomorrow," the physiotherapist said to her, "Now you're doing so well and your appetite is getting a little more balanced. But you'll still need the IV for at least the next week. We need to see if your body gets better at balancing its salt and water concentrations."

"And what about long term?" Alric asked, "There's a fine line between optimism and sheer idiocy. What happens if some of Jana's symptoms don't improve?"

"Dad," Jana began, fidgeting uncomfortably.

"No, Jana," Alric protested, "This question needs to be asked."

"Well," the physiotherapist started, "Jana's hypoglycaemia is the main concern but that can be managed effectively enough that she can lead a normal life. If her electrolyte balance doesn't get any better that will be problematic, but she may well be able to use electrolyte solutions to help it. Many of the problems could be treated with hormone therapies. The prognosis looks very good."

"Her physical symptoms aren't the problem," Alric said, in a harsher tone of voice.

The physiotherapist nodded, "I understand that. We're contemplate the idea of using medication to control her mood swings. But we need to wait a while, sometimes these problems can fix themselves."

Alric nodded understandingly but inside he felt like a mess.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Ceri was trying to distract herself from thinking about Jana by tidying the house. Dr Whitewood had called to say that Alric, Meinir and Aran had arrived that morning and Ceri had travelled over to the city a few hours later to meet them.

That was when things started going downhill. Jana just couldn't cope with having so many visitors, she had burst out crying and started hitting and scratching herself until Alric was able to restrain her. Then she'd yelled and screamed at them until she passed out from exhaustion.

How on earth were they supposed to look after Jana? Ceri thought to herself, What would happen when Jana started walking again? She'd just up injuring herself or someone else. Jana needed to be at one of Segolia's rehabilitation facilities but unfortunately no one seemed to be agreeing with her.

Ceri let out a sigh. Soon it would be full moon again, and Jana no doubt would be a morwal this month. What on earth would happen then?

Ceri looked out at the half moon in the sky. Aran was right, the little girl was no longer Jana, no longer the little alpha they'd watched grow up. And might never be their Jana again.

Thanks for the reviews :)

Also, if anyone is thinking about making a Jatei video for Youtube- War of Hearts by Ruelle (which sounds a little like Running with the Wolves to me) and Mine by Taylor Swift would be a good songs.


	13. Chapter 13

"Spaghetti Carbonara, just how you like it," Amanda said, placing the pyrex dish on the table, "With plenty of extra bacon."

Matei smiled, he loved Amanda's cooking all of the time, but he especially loved her Italian cooking. Amanda was half Italian herself and had been taught to cook by her grandmother. She made taught Matei and Emilia how to cook some of the dishes but whilst Emilia was a pretty decent cook, Matei's cooking abilities just about extended to making toast and coffee. Which was pretty much all he had lived on for the past week.

Matei hadn't attended school in a good few days either, and not just because of Jana. He'd been attending counselling meetings for three hours a day at Segolia. Between the meetings and spending time with Jana all he'd wanted to do was sleep. It was John and Amanda who had insisted that they sit down and have a family meal together, after all with all the commotion they hadn't had a chance to talk about the fact that Matei and Emilia were wolfbloods.

"Comfort food?" John asked, looking hungrily at the spaghetti.

Emilia nodded, "Pasta always makes things better."

John laughed, ruffling Emilia's hair, "You must be the only two wolfbloods who prefer pasta over meat."

"Well it's not prefer," Matei clarified, "We just really love Amanda's cooking."

"See," Amanda said hugging Matei and kissing his head, "My grandmother was correct when she said no sane person could ever hate Italian food. Maybe I should publish her recipes, I wonder if Segolia has some secret wolfblood publishing agency? No, don't laugh John, that place is like the wolfblood Illuminati."

John smiled, "Well if they do, make sure that you include a section for wild wolfbloods. Aran and Meinir very much enjoyed that sausage casserole you made for them. They may well want to make it for the rest of the wild pack."

Emilia smiled, "Yes, and Meinir seems to really enjoy coffee now."

"Why do evil things always taste so good?" Emilia and Matei said in unison in bad Welsh accidents, before bursting out laughing.

"Well," Matei said, "If you do find out there is some underground wolfblood Harper Collins, can you please, please ask them if they have any special deals on?"

"Matei," John said, "You about a hundred books sitting up in that room of yours- and a library card. You're going to survive."

Matei sulked, slumping in his chair.

"You can be such a moody teenager sometimes," Emilia said, shaking her head.

"You know I still can't get my head around how cool you two are about us being wolfbloods," Matei said, twirling a strand of pasta around his fork.

"Well why does having fur and a tail have to change anything?" Amanda asked, "The way I see it, it's only the same as if you'd come out as gay or something like that. You're still the same Matei and Emilia that I've looked after for the past year. I just wish you could have told me yourselves. I do understand the importance of keeping it a secret, but we're family. I want you two to be able to trust us with anything. You are my son and my daughter. It doesn't matter what species we are. We're a family."

"A pack," Emilia added.

"Exactly," John continued, "Yes, I was surprised to find that I was raising two kids who are a completely different species, you certainly don't here that every day at work. But I'm no naive, all those study nights. Well I was suspecting that something was going on, but you two are always so well behaved. I thought you were just going to sleepovers with your friends, Emilia, and that you were staying up until all hours of the night on D&D missions, Matei."

"It's hard being the only wizard in a group full of monks, dwarves and elves," Matei complained.

"Matei!" John said, "How many times do I have to tell you about class discrimination?"

Matei rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, don't be so harsh to the vertically challenged either," Emilia added.

"Hey," Matei replied, "I don't use your head as arm rest anymore, do I?"

Emilia rolled her eyes.

"But my point is this," John continued, "You two could never be doing anything underhanded or wrong, you just don't have it in you. So I know full well that no matter what species you are you will do the right thing. And I find it interesting as well, learning about the history, the culture of the wild pack. It's fascinating. But that reminds me, we need to discuss rules."

"Rules?" Emilia asked in confusion.

"Well, you know," Amanda began, "Like where you can transform safely, what to do if there's an emergency. John's still building the den but it should be finished before the next full moon. We need to discuss who is allowed over on a full moon night and who isn't. And what time you two can stay up to as well."

"Yes, and I would like you to show us where you used to go on full moons," John replied, "I'm just curious. I wouldn't know how to transform in secret in the city. And well according to Imara... You haven't always been to careful, have you?"

"I'm sorry," Emilia said, "It won't happen again."

"Yes, it won't," John said, "You can use the den any time you need to. But I do not want a call from Imara saying that I need to pick you up from the pound any time soon. Understand?"

Matei and Emilia nodded and apologized.

"Well, here a few rules we've come up with," Amanda said, passing them both a piece of paper, "Just tell what you think."

"No howling after 9pm," Matei replied with a smile.

"Well you don't want to wake up the neighbours," Amanda said.

"Bed at nine thirty on full moon nights," Emilia complained, "But Matei's never made me go to bed that early before on full moon nights."

"And that one of about litter boxes," Matei said, shuddering.

"The den is your space," John replied, "If you make a mess, you have to clean it up."

Emilia nodded, "We understand. But I disagree with the meat rule, I like a midnight snack."

"Well you won't be needing a midnight snack if you're supposed to be in bed by half nine," John said, "Will you young lady?"

Matei gave his sister a sympathetic smiled, before his phone beeped. Looking at the text message, he bit down an irritated sigh. They knew he was having a family dinner, why was he always left to pick up the pieces? Yes, he loved her, yes he was her alpha soulmate, but sometimes he just needed to be a nerdy, moody, D&D playing, Italian food loving teenager.

"Jana?" Amanda asked with a concern look, "If you need to leave then that's ok."

"No, Rhydian can handle it this time," Matei said in a stern voice, "I said I'd be here, and I'm going to stay."

"Yeah, but this is Jana," Emilia replied.

"Well I'm not married to her," Matei replied, "At least not that I'm aware of."

"Did you two have a fight?" Amanda asked.

"Not exactly," Matei replied, "I just need a break. It's hard. Helping Jana with her exercises, trying to keep her calm and happy all the time, helping her with eating and little things like that. Maybe Ceri is right and she should just be sent away."

"Matei!" Emilia yelled in disbelief.

"Well I'm sorry if just not able to do everything," Matei snapped, "I never asked for this and I didn't understand that being someone's soulmate meant you instantly had to be by their side twenty fours a day, seven days a week. It would be nice if other people helped a little more often."

"I'll talk to Imara in the morning," Amanda replied quietly, somewhat shocked by Matei sudden outburst, "I'm sure they'll be able to sort out more nurses. We just all thought Jana was doing so well."

Matei felt the pain in his chest and sniffed hard, trying not to show how much his eyes were filling with tears.

"Well you were all wrong," Matei replied, before rushing upstairs.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"So, where does the horsey go again?" Aran asked, earning a laugh from Jana.

"It's a knight, remember silly," Jana answered and although Jana would never call him silly in the past, Aran couldn't help but smile. Jana's moods did seem to be getting better- she wasn't crying as much, she no longer hurt herself when she was upset. But she did have moments where she would just switch off and disappear into her own little world.

Aran could live with that. He was just happy to be able to peer through the cracks and see the little parts of his alpha coming back again. And, he thought to himself, if I do things like this- getting Jana to teach me more about the human world- well that might help too. At least it would have everyone feel a little more normal.

"Right," Aran said, with a wide smile, "So my knight is going to destroy your castle?"

Jana nodded, "Exactly."

"You're letting me win, aren't you?" Aran replied, "And you know that if this was wolfblood chess then a beta wolf night would never be allowed to destroy an alpha's castle? No unless he wanted to be exiled by the alpha queen."

Jana laughed loudly, and exuberantly, and for a little too long, "I never said we were playing wolfblood chess."

"Yes, you did," Aran said, suddenly concerned. Was Jana suffering some kind of relapse? Was she losing her memory? Or was this all just normal, well at least as normal as it could be right now.

"Oh, yeah, I remember," Jana answered, "I said it right after Meinir went to get some Elixir of the Devil."

Aran chuckled a little. Meinir certainly had a love hate relationship with instant coffee.

"You know I'm going to be ok, right?" Jana began, suddenly serious, and as Aran looked into her youthful emerald eyes he safe his alpha there. Completely- his Jana- for the first time in a long while.

Aran smiled, before hugging her tightly, "You'll always be my alpha, Jana."

"You'll always be the best beta wolf I've ever known," Jana replied, "Just don't tell Meinir I said that."

Aran laughed, "I'm glad that you're getting better so quickly. Didn't the fee-sea-o-thingy say you were going to try to walk today?"

Jana nodded happily, but not over exuberantly, "The physiotherapist. She said it's time. If I wait to long I'll be in danger of more muscle wasting. And the more I walk, the quicker I'll be able to go home."

"And where will home be?" Aran asked.

"Oh, Aran," Jana said, hugging him again, "When I am a lot better, I promise, I'll come and stay for a while. I'll bring all the new pack with me too, and the Stoneybridge pack if they're around too."

Aran smiled, "As long as you keep Emilia on a tight leash. She's been driving me half mad with all her questions. Do you prefer Snowdonia or Scotland for winter? What are your traditions? Do you prefer deer or rabbits?"

"Well we've always know you're a rabbit's man, Aran," Jana teased, with a wink.

"Ha ha," Aran replied, "That joke is older than Ben Nevis."

Jana smiled, "Whatever. I don't care about what you and Maddoc's son get up to, just as long as you don't turn into one of those sappy puppies who constantly go about their significant others."

"Like you you mean," Aran replied, "Oh Rhydian, oh Rhydian, wherefore art thou Rhydian?"

Jana growled, "I'm your alpha, Aran."

Aran shrugged, "But I guess it's you and Matei now. I did overhear your father and Meinir talking about ritual plans a few days ago."

Jana rolled her eyes, "Can't they just leave us alone. This isn't the wild pack."

"But you still have responsibilities, Jana," Aran continued, "You might have abdicated, but your father is back in power and he needs a new heir. And you'd know he'd never remarry."

"So run along and get pregnant, like a good little alpha's daughter?" Jana asked explosively, "Is that what you're trying to suggest?"

"Jana, calm down, please," Aran said.

But Jana didn't calm down, she just started laughing and laughing, even when it started to be beyond awkward. Aran just sat there frozen with fear, did he just push over the edge? What would Alric and Matei say? Jana was doing so well, and then he had to go ahead and say something like that.

He tried to hold Jana still, to stop her rocking backwards and forwards, a new habit that she'd developed. He held tried to hold back his tears, but unsuccessfully, instead he buried his face in her soft hair, breathing in her warm and welcome scent. There was still a long way to go, he reminded himself, and Jana was already doing so well. No more bandages- he'd been tasked with brushing her hair that morning and the amounts of tangles...- her coordination when she was eating was beginning to get better, she'd even had a full conversation in Welsh that morning with her father. But she was far from fixed, that would take months.

So Aran just breathed in her scent and allowed his mind to transport him back to the memories he had of Jana as a child. Teaching her how to fight Meinir, teaching her how to hunt, playing chase through the camp, watching her sleep on dark moon days... His little alpha, happy and healthy.

And he'd make sure she'd be like that again, no matter what he had to do.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"I'm hardly suggesting sending her to Siberia, Rhydian!" Ceri yelled back at her son, "It's just if we're not going to medicate Jana, than having her live here might not be the greatest idea."

"But she needs us," Rhydian protested, "She needs her pack."

"I'm not arguing against that," Ceri replied, "But having Jana live somewhere more secure, but still close to us. That would be ideal."

"I agree with Rhydian," Gerwyn argued, "Jana needs to be amongst her own people. Not locked up somewhere with a bunch of stiff wolfbloods who only care about feeding her up and keeping her sedated. And you know what the doctors said, Ceri, she needs to be constantly kept mentally active. The more she uses her mind, the quicker she will heal."

"I'm not doing any of this out of malice," Ceri replied, "I love Jana like a daughter. I'm just thinking about how best to protect her."

"We all love Jana," Gerwyn answered, "And that's why she needs to live with us. She needs love. That will help her heal."

"Ok," Ceri answered, "But on two conditions."

"Ok," Rhydian replied, "Let's hear them."

"One, if there is the slightest bit of a chance of Jana getting hurt then we have to send her to facility," Ceri began, "Two, unless her moods drastically improve, I want Jana medicated."

"Agreed," Rhydian said.

"I don't like the idea of medicating her," Gerwyn replied, "But if it's the only thing stopping her from staying here, then I agree."

"So she'll stay with us," Ceri concluded with a sigh. Just hoping she was making the right decision.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Matei sipped moodily at his drink, as he slouched in his seat, trying to ignore Katrina's worried looks. She was already giving him free drinks and cupcakes- surely he didn't look that pitiful.

Katrina walked over to him, and sat opposite him, placing a bright pink magazine on the table.

"They've got a new Taylor Swift love life quiz," Katrina replied, "Don't you want to know if you're more like Harry Styles or Joe Jonas?"

"Not really," Matei answered.

Katrina sighed, "Well Maddy's taking over now, so I can always go with you to see Jana. Did you know she's going to start practising her walking today? It's amazing how far she's come in just under two weeks. She might even be here the grand finale Romeo and Juliet show."

"She won't," Matei responded.

"Well I was talking to Dr Whitewood," Katrina began, before seeing the irritated and miserably look on Matei's face, "Matei, has something happened? With you and Jana? It's just yesterday you were in here excited about how well Jana was doing and now-."

"I know she can't help it," Matei began, feeling the pain again like a stuck cog turning in his stomach, "I know she has little to no control over her emotions. Maybe it was immoral of me to start a relationship with her."

"Immoral?" Katrina asked, "How on earth could it be immoral? She loves you and you love her, and you'd never hurt her. Jana would be devastated if she didn't have you."

"That's the thing," Matei replied, "Jana wants too much of me and too soon."

Matei played back the memory in his mind. He'd been reading to her, Jeffries book, and replacing Rhydian's name with his own, making Jana laugh loudly but in a healthy and normal way. Soon, they'd reached the end of the book and Jana had begged him to carry on, making up the story. It was all going well, until Jana got a little too excited. They'd been kissing and then all of sudden she'd just grabbed at his shirt, talking about how much she wanted him, needed him and about his 'duties' as her soul mate. About how he should be serving, and, pleasing her...

Matei felt sick at the memory. Sure, he loved Jana. But seeing her behave like that, it was so unlike her that he felt for a moment as if his girlfriend had died and been replaced with someone knew and unbelievably wrong for him. He couldn't do anything except get up and leave the room. He felt like he'd died inside too.

"Oh God!" Katrina replied, "Matei, I'm so sorry."

"I just never know how to react to anything Jana does," Matei said, "I feel like I'm constantly tip toeing around her trying to make sure she's calm and happy. And I just find it so exhausting."

"If you need us to help more then just say," Katrina said, placing a comforting hand over Matei's, "You don't need to be afraid of admitting how you feel. Even to Jana. She might be different, at least for now, but we've not lost her forever. If you tell her how you feel she'll understand."

Matei nodded, "Thanks, Katrina. I'm going to see her now, do you want to come with me?"

"I promised Maddy that I'd organise a little something," Katrina replied, "But don't you dare tell Jana anything."

Matei nodded, smiling, slipping his hands into the pockets of his coat, "I promise. Thank you, you've helped me a lot."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Jana was standing, holding onto the edge of the table tightly, when Matei walked into the room. She tried her hardest not to lose her focus, but ended up wobbling a little anyway, making Matei rush to her side, and taking a lot of weight off her unsteady legs.

"No fair surprising me like that," Jana complained, as she once again, tried to figure out how to use the crutches. The physiotherapist had made it look so easy, and for a while Jana had been able to stand, using one of them, and holding onto the table for dear life.

"Were you practising all on your own?" Matei asked, with a look of clear shock on his face, "What if something had happened?"

"I wanted to surprise you," Jana said, "And I wanted to apologise, for last night. What I did was totally out of order and I can't help but feel ill at the thought of just being so... Seductive like that? I hope you understand I wasn't really myself then."

Matei cupped her cheek with his free hand, "Of course I understand. But I do need to talk about some things. Maybe you should sit for a little while. We can practise in a while."

Jana nodded, with a yawn, "My legs do feel quite achy."

Matei brushed a strand of hair away from her face, and then decided to grab her hairbrush off the side table.

"Thank you," Jana said with a wide grin, "I'm sorry if it's all tangly."

Matei smiled, "It's not too bad actually. Although Aran can't do braids to save his life."

"He's better than you," Jana replied playfully, "I missed you. When you walked out last night, I was just so afraid that..."

Matei placed a hand gently under her chin and turned her head carefully, so that she could look straight into his eyes, "You won't ever lose me Jana. I'm your enaid cymar alffa- your soulmate alpha. I love you so much."

"Fy enaid cymar alffa," Jana replied, "Rwy'n dy garu di."

Jana kissed him passionately, but with her usual playfulness and nothing unusual or worrisome seeping through. She ran her hands through Matei's hair, using her full wolf senses to take in the way that every single strand felt under her fingers. She breathed in his scent- woodland and fresh books. And perhaps a little too much aftershave...hopefully he hadn't been taking dating advice from Tom.

Jana ran her hands down his back, as Matei's hands tangled in her hair, always careful to avoid the still sore scar that run along the side and back of her head. Jana pulled Matei closer to her, allowing her hands to trace Matei's muscular frame. Was he just naturally muscular, she wondered, or had he been working out?

"Jana," he whispered, as he pulled back momentarily, trying to catch his breath, a smile filling every part of his face, his dark eyes shinning like obsidian.

Jana looked away shyly, "It's me. I'm absolutely here Matei and I'm absolutely in love with you."

Matei smiled, blinking away his tears, "For so long. I thought I'd lost you. Every day I was worried that you were moving further and further away from me and I might never find you again. That you might never find you again."

"Oh, Matei,"Jana said, tearing running down her cheeks, "I could never leave you. Never."

Matei kissed her again, deeply, wrapping his arms carefully around her back.

"I never knew what to say," Matei said, "Or how to react. I didn't know how to tell you how I felt."

"You never need to be afraid to tell me how you feel," Jana said, "Fy enaid cymar alffa."

"Fy enaid cymar alffa," Matei echoed, "Rwy'n dy garu di too."

Jana smiled, "Your Welsh is almost perfect."

"It could never be as perfect as you," Matei replied.

Jana laughed and looked at him with suspicious eyes, "I bet you got that line out a book."

"You know me too well, fy enaid cymar alffa," Matei answered, "But this time, it was all me."

"Of course I know you too well," Jana answered, "Fy enaid cymar alffa, I know your heart by heart..."


	14. Chapter 14

"It's not evil, Meinir," Emilia said reassuringly as the older girl stared at the cup of coffee with intense worry.

"The gods commanded that wolfbloods should only drink water," Meinir answered, "I have sinned so many times since being here that if I was sent to the Kronock for a month I still wouldn't have repented enough."

"You haven't sinned," Emilia replied in a slightly panicked voice, "And Matei is a much bigger sinner-he's practically addicted to chocolate milkshakes."

Meinir laughed, "Well if they're as good as the coffee in here then I will turn a blind eye to his sins."

She looked around her. They were at the Kafe- Jana's home and workplace, her territory. It still hurt to look at all the bright colours and lights and the noise could be so overwhelming that at times it gave Meinir a headache. But the coffee made it all better- that sweet elixir of the devil.

"So tell me," Emilia began excitedly, "I want to know everything. What are fire-walkers? Why are they so special? What is my destiny?"

Meinir smiled, "Well little cerddwr tân. Where to start? I was only your age when my mam told me all of the pack legends, see in the wild, beta wolves, like myself, we have three options as to how we can serve the pack. We can become healers, hunters or occasionally priest and priestesses. My mam wanted my to be a priestess. And well, it's not great secret that I thought I could do much better than that. I even challenged Jana for leadership once. I was Alric's heir too once, well before Jana was born. Jana's mam, Arianne, she was Alric's enaid cymar alffa and really alpha's aren't supposed to make love matches unless their enaid cymar is especially strong and powerful and can do Ancian and Eolas. Arianne was only barely a beta wolf and her Eolas was weak at best.

"But my mam taught me all the legends. I never thought I'd get to meet a cerddwr tân."

"So what makes us so special?" Emilia asked.

"Well asides from a lack of a fear of fire," Meinir began, taking a sip of her coffee, "The legends say that you can take fire from others, bend it to your will and most importantly, destroy it."

"What is that even supposed to mean?" Emilia pondered.

Meinir shrugged, "It was just meant to be poetic nonsense, and no one took it seriously until you came along. The likelihood is that it's half truth half-rubbish and you shouldn't take it seriously. But don't worry you still have an important destiny."

Emilia smiled, "I just wish I knew what it was."

"You will soon enough," Meinir answered.

Emilia nodded understandingly, "There's only one thing that worries me- it sounds so stupid in light of all the other things I should be worried about."

"If it worries you then it is important," Meinir said seriously and with a concerned expression on her face, "Go on."

"Well, you get stared at," Emilia began awkwardly, "But you don't seem to care. How do you just ignore the comments?"

Meinir sighed with a smile, "Well, it's not easy, carriad. I guess I spend most of my time worrying about Aran, because I'm older than him and it's my job protect him, so I don't get so much time to worry about myself. But whenever I am trouble, I just remind myself of my wolf- what it feels like to run wild on a full moon and to use Eolas and Ancian to be one with my pack- and then I can't help but feel sorry for those humans because they don't get to see the beauty that we see."

"But they don't hate me for being a wolfblood," Emilia argued, "They hate me because of my scars."

"Only a fool would hate you," Meinir said, reaching out to touch the young girl's face, "We know the truth. No great wolfblood leader ever ruled without threats on his leadership. Remind yourself of what you know to be true, about your role as a cerddwr tân, and remember that when they attack, they are not attacking you but rather the idea of you that they have in their heads. And that idea couldn't be more wrong."

Emilia smiled, "I wish I could stay in the wild. But I think I'd miss Matei and Jana too much."

"If I'd stayed here," Meinir began, "I would have missed Aran so badly that- well it is such cowardice to do such things but I wouldn't have wanted to carry on my life without him. Jana is lost here. If we can convince her to go back to the wild, then Matei will follow too and you'll everything you want, carriad. But don't put all your hope on the happening. If they decide not to, then it's up to you what you choose, whether or not you could leave your brother behind."

Emilia nodded, "But I'd find out more about who I am, about the fire walkers, I mean."

Meinir smiled sympathetically, she could understand Emilia's excitement at the idea. But she was older, no longer a cub trying to find who she was meant to be, and she had a good amount of well deserved battle scars too. Meinir knew that Emilia might not make the right decision. Yes, she would have Cadwr and Gwyn and herself, and likely Aran too if she ever stopped constantly asking him questions about the wild. She'd find out her destiny a lot easier in the wild. But she's seen the way that Matei and Emilia interacted- the way that Matei would never leave her side, no matter how much Emilia yelled at him to back off, the way that both knew what each other wanted to eat or drink even before that person said it, the way that Matei would sing to Emilia as she fell asleep. She wasn't about to let one quick and careless remark rip the sibling apart.

"Come on, let's go down that human thing called shopping," Meinir suggested, taking Emilia's hand in hers.

All she could do was hope that Jana changed her mind.

Otherwise... Well... Meinir didn't want to think about it."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

TJ cussed as he once again covered himself in glitter, earning a laugh from Selina and an eye roll from Rhydian.

"Hey, no fair," TJ said, "Just because you're the art student, Rhydian, doesn't mean you have a right to laugh at me."

"You better not be getting glitter all over the floor," Katrina nagged, "I only moped two hours ago. God, I miss Jana so much. That couple came in again today, the ones that always order the fancy steak dish and I swear I almost lost it. I mean only Jana knows how to cook rare steaks properly. I didn't have a clue. I just wish there was some magic potion that could make her suddenly better and have her running around here again."

"Full moons?" Shannon asked Maddy quietly.

Maddy shook her head, "A broken arm or leg yes. But brain damage, no, wolfblood healing has it's limitations."

Shannon nodded understandingly, "I was working with the haematology lab earlier today. They accidentally gave me Jana's results."

Maddy smiled, "Go on."

"Well apart from slightly elevated white blood counts," Shannon replied, "Jana's blood sugars are just into the normal range now and as for her salt levels, they've improve so much."

"And what about Jana's moods?" Maddy asked, "That's what's concerning every. Ceri wanted Jana sent away because she thought Jana would be in too much danger transforming in Stoneybridge."

"Jana will likely be a morwal this month," Rhydian added, overhearing the conversation, "So she will be transforming in a highly secure location. We just don't know where it is yet. It might even be in Norway. And Imara said that she'd arrange for her whole pack to be there if possible. So that Jana is safe, but also comfortable."

"They are going to try this new technique," Shannon answered, "Cranial electrotherapy stimulation. Using electric currents to alter brain waves."

"It sounds all a little," Rhydian began, "Experimental. My mum wants a definite solution."

"They are going to give her tablets to steady her dopamine levels, they are also stopping her drinking coffee for the same reason- which has been so much fun, trust me," Shannon said, "And well it's been suggested that... Well really it may well end up killing two birds with one stone."

"Go on," Maddy asked confused.

"Well everyone knows that Matei and Jana are a couple," Shannon said timidly, "And Rhydian, they aren't cubs anymore so you can stop looking like you want to kill Matei."

Rhydian shoved his hands in his pockets to hid the dark black veins.

"Birth control?" Maddy asked doubtfully.

"It can help reduce mood swings," Shannon replied, "And damage to the hypothalamus can affect... Well you know."

"Poor Matei," Maddy replied, "He probably doesn't have a clue what to expect next."

"I wouldn't be so sorry for him," Rhydian answered angrily, "He's probably chuffed about being so close to reaching second base."

"Oh grow up," Maddy replied, with an eye roll, "Matei was broken when Jana nearly died. He was in emotional shock for hours. He even had to be tranquillised and he's spent weeks in intensive therapy. He's not some player, according to your own mum, he's her enaid cymar alffa."

"Wasn't I that?" Rhydian replied, "A couple of years ago."

"Look, I know you don't like him," Shannon replied, "But I've compared Jana's blood tests and vital signs both when he's there and when he isn't, and there's a massive difference. So if them too be all smoochy and being all over each other is going help Jana recover faster then so be as far as I'm concerned."

"She's like a sister to me, Shannon," Rhydian argued, "It's my job to protect her and I've failed her so far. I'm not about to let some guy toy with her heart, enaid cymar alffa or not."

Shannon rolled her eyes, "Matei didn't mean for Jana to fall. You should apologize for beating him up."

Rhydian sighed, "Ok, fine. But if Jana shows any sign whatsoever that she's upset with Matei's advances then I'll obliterate him."

Maddy rolled her eyes, "Whatever, Rhydian. Matei's not the enemy."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"I don't understand, I thought she was getting better," Matei said in a panicked tone to Doctor Whitewood as she took Jana's pulse.

Matei could hear it himself, fast but thankfully even. But he was still concerned, Jana was boiling hot, her forehead sweaty and her cheeks flushed red, she was lethargic but also restless and had kicked the blankets off repeatedly. She had also been drinking loads of water- something which Matei would have stopped her doing in the past, but now he had no idea what he should be doing.

Dr Whitewood adjusted the IV, "We'll have to make sure she gets enough of the saline and glucose solutions. In all fairness Matei, we were expecting something like this. Her white blood cells level were elevated, it's quite common for people with Jana's injury to suffer from an unrelated illness. We'll run some blood tests but it just looks like a bad case of a cold or possibly some kind of a flu. Don't beat yourself up about it, you couldn't have done anything to prevent it."

Matei sat on the edge of the bed, and waited for Doctor Whitewood to leave before kicking off his shoes and taking off his coat and lying down next to Jana. She was so warm!

"Hush," he said to her as Jana began to mumble, "Just rest."

"I'm sorry," Jana said, in a muffled voice, "The first day of your school holidays and I had to go and get the flu."

Matei shook his head, "Don't say that."

"But I wanted to practise walking again," Jana complained, "I was so close, Matei, so close yesterday. If I wasn't so scared I would have taken a step."

"We'll do the exercises later," Matei said, "If you feel up to it. But for now, just sleep."

Jana rolled over to rest her head on Matei's shoulder and place a hand on his chest.

"Gods, you're cold Matei!" Jana said, " And your hands, they're like a freezer. You're not ill too, are you?"

"No, I just lost my bus pass," Matei explained, "So I walked. And as for my hands, well I have Raynauds, circulatory problems."

"Well I guess that could come in handy today," Jana said with a sly smile, "Oh come on, everyone already thinks we're you know... And the way they were talking about how the more time we spend together the quicker I seem to be getting better. Who knows what would happen if...?"

"Jana, that's not you talking, remember," Matei responded, "It's the illness, it's making you say things like that. Things you don't really mean."

Jana felt tears sting her eyes, "How can you know for certain?"

"I know your heart by heart too, fy enaid cymar alffa," Matei replied, "And I know that the well Jana would be resting right now, not thinking about stuff like that."

Jana sighed, "It's all so confusing. I don't even really know who I am anymore."

"Then trust me to know," Matei replied, "Trust me to make the right choices for us. Rest now, fy enaid cymar alffa."

Jana nodded again Matei's chest, tickling his chin with her curly wild hair. Everything was so much easier when Matei was there.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"And then I got this," Meinir told Aran excitedly as he wore a pained expression on his face.

He looked at the jacket disapprovingly, "That's just impractical. How is that going to protect you during a snow storm?"

"Fashion is rarely practical, Aran," Meinir replied with an eye roll, and put an arm around his shoulders. They were walking back from Matei and Emilia's, where they had dinner earlier to the den on the outskirts of the city.

"Noted," Aran said, looking down at the pair of trainers he was wearing. Well at least he wasn't dressed like TJ or Matei. How they survived in the winter he never could guess? And how they attracted girls, dressed like that, showing a complete disregard for any kind of planning for the season at all. In the wild pack no sensible wolfblood woman would marry a man who was such an idiot.

"If we are staying here," Meinir began, "We'll need to blend in. That means skinny jeans, cashmere jumpers and duffle coats for me and trainer and hoodies for you. You should be thankful for Amanda and John's generosity, they've been constantly feeding us, letting us stay at theirs whenever they can, and now buying us clothes too. They are like a second set of parents."

Aran smiled, "I am grateful to them. And I agree, I can't go around dressed like a ruffian or like Matei either. But it's all a bit much considering we may well be leaving soon. And you're forgetting that you get to spend all your time with Emilia. I know she's like a younger sister to you. Instead I have to put up with Matei, and Jana is wrong, he does snore and he also constantly says her name in his sleep. I swear he never takes a break from talking about her."

"That's enaid cymar alffas for you," Meinir answered, "I thought you'd found your enaid cymar anyway?"

"May," Aran said with a shy smile, "What have I told you about teasing me about that?"

Meinir rolled he eyes, "There's no shame in it. Times have changed. Two years ago Alric would have exploded at the idea of Jana dating a tame. Now, he's planning their wedding and even has drawn up a list of approved names."

"How many names?" Aran asked with a concerned look.

"Twelve at last count," Meinir answered, "And he'll no doubt be expecting Jana to make good use of all of them. Mostly I feel sorry for Matei, his Welsh is terrible, no matter what Jana says, the vows are tricky."

"Well at least he's no longer calling you Men-eer," Aran answered, "How many times do we have to tell them it's May-neer?"

Meinir smiled, "It's hard for them to pronounce Welsh names."

"You know I always wondered how Jana got a German name?" Aran pondered.

"German grandmother," Meinir said.

Aran nodded understandingly, "Jana, will be alright? Won't she?"

Meinir nodded, "You probably don't remember much of when she was a baby. She used to keep all of us up all night with her crying. And then she'd be so fussy about who could hold her, or feed her, or when she would go outside. Let's put it this way, a baby who screams that loud, won't go down without a fight. And let's put it this way, Jana is still being waited on paw and fang like the little alpha's heir she's always been been. Nothing's changed all that much."

Aran smiled, "I guess not."

"It's Emilia I worry about," Meinir said, "I think she'll come with us, no matter if Jana decides to stay or go."

"And where Jana goes, Matei goes," Aran added, "Gods help them all."

Meinir nodded, "I won't just abandon the girl. She relies on me so much for reassurance. And her brother can't really understand what it means to be a young female wolfblood going from being a cub to being an adult. Neither can her foster parents. She needs a mentor, they same way Ceri was with Jana."

Aran nodded, "And I'll need , what are they called again, ear plugs."

Meinir let out a loud laugh, "She's not that bad Aran, but I do sense change is in the wind. I just hope none of the trees are blown down by the gust."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"Matei Covaci!" he heard a woman yell loudly, and woke up suddenly, jumping out of bed too quickly. His head spinning.

The lights snapped on a second later to reveal an angry looking Imara, and a worried looking Amanda and Emilia behind her.

"You've worried your foster mother and your sister sick," Imara began in earnest, "I know you love Jana dearly but if you are going to stay out all evening at least call them to tell them that you are still alive."

"Imara, please," Amanda began, "Matei clearly just feel asleep. He's hardly TJ."

Imara sighed, "I might not have been the nicest to Jana in the past, Amanda, but I do care about that girl and I won't Matei thinking that this is the place where he can get away with everything and anything."

"I'm pretty sure he was just asleep the whole time," Amanda defended him, "Matei wouldn't dream of doing anything like that."

Matei blushed at the idea. Of course, now he thought to himself. How it must have look- him with his arms around Jana, she wearing only a thin nightgown- decorated with pictures of little teddy bears.

Matei couldn't help smiling as he saw her, fast asleep despite Imara's yelling, still hugging that red stuff wolf toy.

"Has her fever broken yet?" Emilia asked.

Matei shook his head.

Emilia took one of Jana's hands in her own, "I'm sure it's nothing serious."

"Not at all serious," Dr Whitewood answered, "Just a bad cold. She'll be much better by tomorrow. I'm just worried about the fever, given that she can't regulate her body temperature all that well. It might set her back a little."

Emilia looked confused, "I'm not sure why you are so worried? She's not even that warm."

"What are you on about, Emilia?" Matei asked in confusion, "She's been burning up all day."

Matei placed a hand on Jana's forehead, she was warm but not feverish, her fever surely couldn't have broken in the space of seconds?

Emilia bit her lip nervously, "I think I might have done something. Something to do with fire-walkers and something Meinir said about their abilities and the legends."

"You need to tell us everything that Meinir said to you," Imara commanded.

Emilia nodded, looking down at her hands. Who on earth was she?


	15. Chapter 15

"I'm going to kill him!" Jana yelled, just as Matei walked into the room. He immediately jumped into action mode- wrongly suspecting that Jana was have a bad mood swing- and pinned her down. He'd thought she was getting better but it seemed she was just going down hill again. It broke Matei's heart to think that all the progress she'd been making had suddenly all been for nothing.

"Matei," Jana said a lot more calmly, "No, it's not like that. I'm fine, I swear. Just let me tell you. Then you'll understand."

Matei gave Jana a concerned look, before taking off his boots and moving to sit next to her, covering the both of them with the duvet and wrapping his arms around Jana, "So who do you want to kill and why?"

"My father," Jana began angrily, "He came in here last night to tell me that it's all arranged. We're getting married."

"By we, you don't mean?" Matei asked awkwardly, "He doesn't mean us, does he?"

Jana nodded, "Oh, and it gets better."

Jana passed Matei a sheet of paper. Whilst the names were all spelt atrociously wrong or were in Welsh it was clear to Matei what this was. He rolled his eyes- trust wildies to jump to the wrong conclusions.

"He keeps on telling me to eat up," Jana replied, "Because I'm probably feeding two. And whenever I tell him, we're not, well you know, he doesn't believe me and tells me to stop being a prude."

Matei smiled, "I think its just a cultural misunderstanding. Once he's spent more time in the human world he'll understand more about how we do things, or rather don't?"

Jana smiled, "I hope so. But I wish he wouldn't make things so awkward. This isn't the wild pack, humans don't just go openingly declaring their love at any time they like in front of everyone."

"Well there have been several cases of people who've proposed via flash mobs," Matei answered.

"What is a flash mob?" Jana asked, frowning adorably, "You know what I mean anyway Matei, people in the human world they know each other before they marry."

"I know this will surprise you fy enaid cymar alffa," Matei said, tucking a strand of hair behind Jana's ear, "But in some places that isn't the case. In some places there are arranged marriages, just like in the wild pack. Your father's world and the human world aren't so different really."

"But," Jana began, picking at her pyjama top, "It's not that I wouldn't ever want to, I mean, I just, well you know. Not like this."

Matei smiled nodding, "In understand, and I agree. We're still young and we're enaid cymar alffas anyway. We're going to be together forever anyway, or so I've been told on multiple occasions. What's the rush?"

Jana smiled, "I knew you'd understand."

Matei kissed Jana's cheek, "You have your father wrapped around your little paw far more than you think. You only have to ask and he'll do whatever you want. Now are you sure you're feeling well enough?"

Jana nodded exuberantly, worrying Matei a little. Her moods had improved a lot since being on the medications but they weren't 100% effective.

Matei crawled sluggishly out of bed and waited as Jana shuffled across to the edge of it, swinging her legs over the side.

"Slippers or no slippers?" Matei asked, holding up a pair of bright pink ballet slippers that Katrina had bought Jana to replace the rabbit ones that had been destroyed when Jana fell.

"None for now," Jana replied, "The floor can be a little too polished at times."

Matei nodded, holding out him arms and Jana gripped them tightly, allowing Matei to take a lot of her body weight. Matei bit his lip as he looked at her. Her pyjamas were falling off of her, her legs were shaky and thin and she'd lost a lot of her muscle mass. No wonder she was finding walking so difficult, her body could barely support itself, and she must be in a lot of pain.

Matei watched as Jana tried to balance, swaying a little, he wanted to tell her to sit down and rest- but this was Jana, well or not, wrapping her up in cotton wall, or at least trying to would only end badly.

"You can do this," Matei said reassuringly, "I know you can."

Jana looked at him with big wide and afraid eyes and he wanted nothing more than to hug and kiss her and pick her and tuck her into bed again. But this was Jana, she wouldn't want to be stuck in bed or in a wheelchair her whole life. If Jana didn't learn to walk again then she'd never be able to visit the wild pack, they lived too far away for cars and even wheelchairs to reach their home. The idea of Jana never being able visit her father stabbed Matei sharply in the guts, reminding her of how he'd lost his own parents. He wasn't going to let that happen to Jana.

"Come on, Jana," Matei said gently, "I know you can do this. Trust me."

"But if I fall," Jana said with a sob.

"You won't," Matei replied, "I've got you. Don't be afraid."

Jana lifted one foot off the ground slightly, before placing it down quickly again.

"You're doing so well," Matei said to her, "Standing is the hardest part, and you've already mastered that."

Jana smiled, tears still running down her cheeks.

"Just think about all the things you'll be able to do," Matei said to her, "You'll be allowed out of here. You'll be able to go the Kafe and run around Norway on full moons. You'll be able to visit the wild pack whenever you want..."

Jana looked up at Matei, a loud sob shaking through her and Matei held her more tightly, as she moved to hug him, burying her face in his chest.

"If I don't learn again," Jana said between sobs, "Then I'll lose them forever, won't I? I'll never get to see the wild pack again. Never get to visit my father, or Aran or Meinir or Cadwr and Gwyn or any of them in the wild. I'll just be weak."

Matei shook his head fiercely, "You're not weak Jana. You'll never be weak. And Jana, I think-."

"But the wild pack won't want to be associated with someone like that," Jana continued, "They wouldn't want my father to be known as the wolf with the broken daughter."

"You're not broken," Matei said, stroking Jana's hair, "And Jana, you-."

"I would be in their eyes," Jana continued passionately, "And that's what matters to them."

"Jana, you just did it!" Matei yelled, "You just took your first step."

"What, no I didn't," Jana replied in confusion.

"Look," Matei said exuberantly, "Turn around and look."

Jana shuffled a little to look behind her. Matei was right, she must have taken a step to reach him.

Jana smiled and laughed a little in joy, "I did, didn't I?"

Matei nodded smiling and laughing too, kissing the top of her head, and then stepping back and holding out his arms again. This time Jana didn't hold on so tightly or allow him to take so much of her weight. Her fear was gone and with one shaky breath, she lifted her foot.

And stepped forward.

She was shaky and unsteady and Matei gripped her arms tightly, because there was a real danger that she could fall. But Jana didn't seem to care, her face lit up joyfully and soon she was taking her next step and then her next until they were as far across the room as they could be.

Matei leaned against the wall, smiling at her proudly, before wrapping his arms around her tightly and kissing her with a kiss that spoke of his relief that Jana had achieved this, that she would be out of the hospital soon, that she would be better and was getting stronger. And as Jana kissed him she felt this too, and more. She felt such joy at finally achieving this, at knowing that she wasn't really all that weak at all, that she'd be able to visit the wild pack whenever she wanted.

Her arm would be fully healed in a week's time, her moods were so much better, her hypoglycaemia almost gone and her appetite normal and voracious. She'd even heard the doctors saying that as soon as she could walk she'd be going home.

Jana wondered where home would be now. She guesses they must mean Ceri and Gerwyn's house. But that was a good hour away from Newcastle. How would she visit her pack, or work at the Kafe? What would she do if she couldn't see Matei every day? He'd been with her all of the time during his holidays but soon he'd be back at school again. It hurt Jana, just knowing how much she'd miss him.

"Jana?" a surprise voice said in a highly pitch shocked tone.

Jana turned around carefully to see a surprised Katrina standing in the doorway.

Jana smiled beamingly, "I finally did it."

Katrina smiled, "I knew you would. Now come on, we've got a lot going on today and you need to rest. So don't keep her up all day, Matei."

Matei nodded obediently, earning a puzzled look from Jana, "Just nap for a little while, fy enaid cymar alffa. I've got a few errands to run but I'll back in no time at all."

"You're hiding something from me," Jana accused him, "What? You know I hate surprises."

Matei smiled, kissing Jana again, more quickly, and then helping her make her way over to the bed,"I promised not to say anything. You'll just have to wait and see."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"Walking?" Dr Whitewood asked in surprise, "And this soon after her cold. Matei, I can't believe it."

Matei smiled, "So does that mean she'll be able to...?"

"Definitely," Dr Whitewood reassured him, "I swear both you and your sister have extraordinary healing skills. If you let us run a few tests."

Matei shook his head defensively, "Emilia and I aren't lab puppies for you and your team to experiment on."

Dr Whitewood nodded, "I understand your concern, Matei, I really do and we'd never just look at you and your sister as 'lab puppies'. What you and Emilia can do is extraordinary and if we understood how it works better it could revolutionise the way we cure illnesses."

"The wild pack knows more about it than I do," Matei replied, "When Jana is well enough we'll go to them and find out what they know. Until then no experiments."

Dr Whitewood nodded, "I understand. Now you better go back to Jana before she wakes up and bites your head off."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Aran looked at the packet of balloons with disgust earning a loud laugh from Meinir and Emilia.

"What in the gods name?" he exclaimed.

"They're balloons," Emilia explained, "You fill them with air or helium and then they float."

"What is helium?" Aran asked, "And why would you want to make bits of plastic float? This has to be one of the weirdest human inventions I've ever seen, along with school playgrounds, pay meters and espresso machines."

Meinir chuckled, "Aran. Try not to be so judgemental and remember this is supposed to be a celebration."

"We have twenty minutes left!" Katrina announced using a loud hailer, "Please make sure all final preparations are being made quickly! We don't have much time left."

TJ let out a sigh, "At least Maddy and Matei go the easiest job. Helping Jana get ready and being the distractions."

"So what is the cover story?" Emilia asked.

"Matei's taking Jana on a date to that new all you can eat buffet place," TJ explained, "Or so she thinks. I just hope the choice of dress wasn't too much. If Jana gets suspicious... Well I thought my mum was scary, until I met Katrina during one of her party planning episodes."

Emilia laughed, "Well let's get blowing those balloons or we'll be in for it."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"All this for an all you can eat buffet?" Jana asked as Maddy brushed her hair and styled it into thick braid.

Jana looked down at her dress, a dark blue colour that contrasted her pale skin perfectly and made her red hair seem even more flame like than usual. She suspected that Matei had agonised over which one to pick out and must have called Emilia or Maddy in for back up. This was going to be their first proper date, no where for art thous or hurried coffee breaks at the Kafe. Their first proper date... Jana had butterflies in her stomach just thinking about it.

"Matei and you have a lot to celebrate," Maddy said, "You're going to be going home tomorrow."

"To Ceri and Gerwyn's?" Jana asked.

Maddy sighed, "Jana, the date for your leaving was set a good week or so ago. It was assumed you wouldn't be able to walk by then. That you'd need a lot more physical therapy. But now... Well it changes things. I think they'll talk to you about it tomorrow. It's not that Ceri and Gerwyn don't want you at theirs, it's just, we have to do what's right for you and if staying somewhere in Newcastle is right then..."

Jana nodded but was confused, "But who in Newcastle would look after me?"

Maddy sighed, "Like I said, we'll discuss it tomorrow."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"One minute warning!" Katrina yelled, "Everyone in their positions."

Everyone rushed across the room just before Katrina turned off the main lights, just letting the glow of a few well placed lanterns and fairy lights illuminate the room.

Moments later the bell announced the door was open.

"SURPRISE!"

Thanks for the reviews!

EPISODE 9 SPOILERS AHEAD

What did everyone think of today's episode?

I love how Katrina found out about the wolfbloods and I think it will be interesting to see how she deals with having a wolfblood flat mate. I wonder what she'll think of Jeffries book now that she knows it was all true. Did anyone else notice that Katrina tried to use Jana's ivy trick when she was trying to follow them?

Also, I loved Matei and Katrina's friendship. Matei turned into the King of Sass in this episode. His reaction to the van (I have minus words) and his eye roll at Katrina saying team Kafe were just so perfect.

I can't believe how reckless Emilia was and that she suggested abandoning Katrina in a forest!

The scenes between Jana and Alric broke my heart, is it me or do they seem so much closer compared to last time we saw them? Maybe Alric learnt to write and has been sending letters to Jana?

I can't wait for tomorrow's episode. :)


	16. Chapter 16

Jana almost jumped up in shock, her heart beating so fast and the adrenaline surging through her veins so strongly that she was worried her wolf might show. She smiled happily, letting out a loud laugh.

"I thought you hated surprises?" Matei asked with a cheeky smile.

"You..." Jana accused, punching him playfully, "I knew you was up to something."

Matei shrugged, before kissing her cheek and quietly whispering, "Anything for you, Jana. Fy enaid cymar alffa, rwy'n dy garu di."

Jana blushed, "Rwy'n dy garu di, Matei."

"How many times, Matei?" TJ asked, sauntering over to Maddy, Matei and Jana, "Stop monopolizing Jana. No doubt you two will be married soon."

"Have you been talking to my dad?" Jana asked worriedly.

"No," TJ answered in confusion, "Don't tell me..."

"Well," Matei said in an uncharacteristic cocky tone, "If you're so sure of that then you can understand why Jana and I are spending so much time together now, you know before things get a little more..."

Jana looked at Matei incredulously, "Matei!"

"Sorry," he said ruffling her hair, "I just had to see the look on his face."

Katrina sighed, "Well, should we get this party started? Or has it already started Matei?"

"Erm, yes!" Jana yelled, before turning to her soulmate with narrowed eyes, "Matei, we need to have a serious talk about the way you talk about your alpha's private life."

"Is that a yes to first or second question?" Meinir asked with a snarky smile.

Aran growled under his breath, his eyes narrowed on Matei, "If he has..."

"We'll take it in turns..." Rhydian added quietly.

"Please just start the party," Jana replied in a flustered tone, "And can we just change this conversation and forget all about it."

Katrina nodded, "Come on guys! Let's get started."

"Did you really have to say that to TJ?" Maddy asked Matei, "And in front of Rhydian and Aran?"

Matei had a guilty expression, "Not really. But guys are guys and it was just meant to be banter. As for Aran, well wildies make such a big deal of relationships, the more he realises that it's a normal part of every day life the less he and Alric will go on about it."

Jana bit her lip, trying not to yell at Matei. The surprise, the banter... She could put up with that, she'd heard plenty of that in the wild pack, and what Matei had said had been mild. But what he'd said to Maddy. Well maybe Jana's assumptions about Matei were wrong.

"Let's go get some food," Matei said, steering Jana's wheelchair towards the table. Various meat dishes were piled high on the table, and there were several boxes of pizza including on that specifically said cheese free. Jana smiled, she wasn't going to let Matei's comment upset her. This was a feast worth of an alpha or maybe even a wolfblood emperor.

"Cheese free pizza," Rhydian said, placing the box in front of her, "Because we all know how much you hate melted pizza."

"A toast, a toast," Katrina announced, lifting up her glass. Everyone else followed, all looking at Jana with wide smiles, "To Jana- because the world wouldn't be the same without you. What would we do without our Tunisian sandcastle, unmelted pizza, meat loving little friend? To Jana."

"To Jana!" they all cheered and although she was sure that TJ, Matei, Rhydian and Aran were all trying to compete to be the loudest (and that Aran and Matei had added my alpha silently afterward)- only one voice attracted her attention.

"Dad!" Jana yelled, earning a smile from Alric, "What are you doing here?"

Alric rushed over to his daughter, looking at her with half-sad half-proud eyes and hugged her, kissing her hair, "If Meinir and Aran can cope, I can too. I wasn't going to ever miss your party, now was I?"

Jana brushed the tears off her cheeks, "Dad. I can walk again. I'll be able to visit you and the pack and to go home whenever I want."

Alric smiled, "I know. Matei told me. I wish I'd been there to see it. You are so strong, Jana, so strong."

Jana smiled, trying not to cry, "You have to promise to try the pizza."

"Jana," Alric said suddenly very serious, "You are my daughter, but there are lines I will not cross. Even for you."

"We'll see," Jana said with a cheeky smile.

Matei laughed, before motioning for Emilia to stop taking photos and to join him and Jana.

"Amanda and John said we can stay until eleven," Emilia said, as she sat down, "I've never been allowed out until so late."

Matei smiled, "I can imagine you going to all the clubs as soon as you turn eighteen. And me following along, trying to keep you out of trouble."

Emilia smiled, "Or I might be living in the wild."

Matei nodded at the slice of pizza that Emilia had just started devouring, "Well I hope they have a wild wolfblood version of Dolmino's express."

"Actually, we do have our own takeaways," Jana added, "Chicken to go..."

"Fast food pheasant," Rhydian added, before grabbing a chicken drumstick.

"Nearly sixteen years and he's still bitter about that," Meinir said with a laugh.

"May, enough," Aran replied, "I'm sure you'll all be able to visit the wild pack soon. What with Jana's birthday just being a few full moons away."

"Your birthday's going to be on a full moon?" TJ asked excitedly, "How amazing would that be?"

"Absolutely amazing!" Emilia answered a little too loudly.

"What's absolutely amazing?" Katrina asked in confusion.

"Jana," Matei said quickly, "Jana's amazing."

Jana blushed.

"I mean," Matei continued, "She's recovered so quickly, and now she's walking again already."

"She'll be showing me up again before long," Katrina said, winking.

Jana winked back with a smile, "It's good to be back here. I've missed the Kafe so much."

"Well, that reminds me," Katrina said, before passing Jana a massive envelope.

Jana looked at it curiously, and then looked at everyone in turn, but no one was saying anything.

She ripped open the envelope to reveal a large card with a wolves on it, under a full moon- it had obviously been designed by Rhydian. Inside was a message from everyone, even Meinir, Aran and Alric. She smiled knowing that they'd kept up the writing classes.

 _Ah eye woz sis close to be-in an alfa! Get well zoon, Jana. Loss of luf, Mei XXX Matei tol me to put the kizzes, es a ooman tradishon apparantlay._

 _Ope u feel betta zoon, lettle alfa, Loss of luff, Aran XXXxx_

 _Jana, I haf meesed u zo much, my lettle dauta, u r no longa a cub, but an alfa en ur on rite. I luff u, and am zoo proud of you. Get betta and com veset uz zoon. Loss of luff, Alric xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

Jana smiled, tears in her eyes. She was with her family, her pack, things couldn't get any better than this.

"Open the other envelope," Emilia added merrily, and Jana tore the envelope gently.

Inside were two tickets and Jana burst out laughing as she saw what they were for.

"Two tickets to Meatopia," Matei explained.

Jana laughed, "This is brilliant! Thanks guys."

"And that's not all of it," Katrina said, "Matei, if you'd do the honours."

Matei nodded, and bowed sarcastically, earning an eye roll from Katrina. He carefully moved Jana's wheelchair so that she was right outside of the door to the flat.

Katrina opened the door, "Ta-da."

Jana looked in wonder. Gone was the short flight of stairs, instead replaced with a ramp.

"We've been doing a little modification," Katrina explained, "Because Ceri and Gerwyn are nice, but they do live over an hour away and I haven't passed my driving test yet, so the idea of you being so far away. I just couldn't deal with that."

"Me neither," Matei added, "And I didn't want you living at Imara's."

"Let's explore," Katrina said.

"But what about the party?" Jana asked.

"Don't worry there'll still be food left when you get back," Katrina teased.

Jana smiled, as Matei wheeled her up the ramp and into the flat,"You didn't have to go to all of this trouble."

Everything in flat had been moved to create more space and even one of the arms of the sofa had been removed, to make it easier for Jana to move from her wheelchair to the sofa whenever she wanted.

Her bedroom had been changed a little too, the bed was lower and the cupboards had been moved to create more space. Rhydian had also drawn some pictures and these were hanging on the Tunisian sandcastle section of the room.

"I love it!" Jana announced.

"Well that's good," Katrina said, "Because you're moving in tomorrow."

SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 10:

There was so much that happened in that episode.

I was happy that they mentioned Jana and Aran's less than platonic relationship and that it was all resolved, I was so surprised by how much of a Jaran shipper Alric was and hope that he'd approve of Matei when Jana and Matei do eventually end up together.

The whole story line with Emilia and Matei throughout this episode was so sad. Firstly, Emilia falls of the edge of a cliff and almost dies and then she leaves Matei to live in the wild. I feel so sorry for him and wonder how he'll cope without her.

I loved the cubs in this episode, it's strange how grown up they are now. I loved Katrina and Gwyn's scenes and I get the feeling that if there is a series five we'll be seeing more of their relationship. Also I kind of wanted to ship Emilia and Cadwr a little during this episode (they are both twelve/ thirteen so it's not like they are babies).

I'm so excited for the next episode, now that Jana has decided to stay tame and there's going to be some members of her pack kidnapped.

:)


	17. Chapter 17

"You two took your time," Rhydian complained, as Tom and Shannon rushed through the door carrying a large white box, "Jana was getting suspicious, I had to tell her that you were kept late at college."

"Thanks for covering for us," Shannon replied, "But you should stop being so grumpy. Jana started walking today! That's a massive achievement and something we should be celebrating. And, yes, ok, she's moving back into the Kafe and not your parent's place but you'll still get to see her all of the time. I think the Gateshead Cafe has become the unofficial meeting place for the pack."

"Well actually we do have our own little den down by the river," Emilia replied, "I could show you around it sometimes. But you are right, our den doesn't have a coffee machine or two for one offers on cupcakes so we do spend most of our time here."

Rhydian sighed, "It's not that I hate the idea of Jana moving back into the flat, although how she puts up with Katrina all the time I honestly don't know. Jana doesn't really like make-up, or pink. It's just that Jana needs to be with her pack, not stuck in the middle of the human city."

"We are her pack," TJ replied grumpily.

"We are all a part of her pack," Aran added, "The wild pack, the Newcastle pack and the Stoneybridge-Canada pack. We are all one pack. Jana needs all of those packs in her life."

"It isn't really about this, is it?" Alric began, "This isn't so much about packs as you'd like to pretend it is."

"Yes, it is Alric," Rhydian replied, veining up slightly, "It's about who can protect Jana the best, and she can't be protected well in the city."

"Have you even heard yourself?" TJ answered, "This is Jana we're talking about here. What does Jana need protecting from? She's getting better, her moods are under control and my mum was talking to Dr Whitewood about slowly cutting back on her medication. Jana's moved to the city all on her own, she's worked and quit her job at Segolia all on her own, she's found a new job and a new place to live all by herself- and she's only what, seventeen? How many other seventeen year olds have done that? Jana's an alpha, and yes she needs to have an alpha ruling beside her, because we all do. But she hardly needs someone protecting her all the time. She needs someone to rule by her side not to dominate her."

"I agree with the boy," Alric replied, "You know, Jana, Rhydian. She won't want to be constantly watched or saved. She needs to be an alpha, to take her own path through life."

"I agree," Meinir echoed, "You start treating Jana like a giant teddy bear and you'll only end up as wolf food."

Maddy hit the table angrily, "Rhydian, I'm just sick of this! I get it that you care about her, and she's your sister. But come on, we're going to be going back to Canada soon. You've got to realise that you're going to have to let other people take care of her no matter what you want. You don't own her Rhydian. And she has three massive packs looking out for her, so even if Jana needed protecting, which let's face she's an alpha not a cub so she doesn't need someone saving her all the time, she's not exactly alone."

"Some people in her pack are better than others," Rhydian said, "Better at protecting their alpha."

Rhydian earnt a growl from everyone in the room but he didn't care, it was what he felt and what needed to be said.

"Do you not think that I'd be the first one to act?" Alric asked angrily and passionately, "If I thought someone in her pack was undermining her and putting her in danger. Do you not trust me to protect my own daughter, boy?"

"No, it's not that," Rhydian said defensively.

"Then what is it?" Maddy asked, "Rhydian, I feel like I'm losing you to some monster. This isn't you. You've never been so over the top about protecting Jana or so upset when other people spend time with her."

"Look, we know you care about Jana," Tom said more gently, "But this isn't about you. This is about what's best for Jana. And if that's letting another person take care of her then that's what needs to happen."

"Or letting Jana look after herself," Shannon replied, "If that's what she chooses. Whoever Jana chooses, you have to respect that."

"And if she makes the wrong choice?" Rhydian asked, "If she trusts the wrong person and she gets hurt?"

"And there we have it," Meinir answered, "So you tell her you're not her alpha and then get upset when she finds another one. Brilliant logic."

Emilia narrowed her golden eyes, and veined up, growling, "This is about Matei, isn't it? You don't trust him."

"Emilia," TJ said cautiously, "Calm down."

"No!" Emilia yelled, "Where were you when Jana started walking again? Where were you when she was sick? When she was upset, whose house was it she went to in the middle of the night? You're not her alpha anymore Rhydian. So just let Jana be happy with Matei."

Rhydian looked at her angrily, his eyes glowing yellow and then stormed out of the room.

"You should have all been kinder to him," Selina replied, "He's just worried about Jana and wants to know that she'll be safe."

"But Matei is Jana's enaid cymar alffa," Emilia replied, "It's not just pretty words. She belongs with him and Rhydian has to understand that."

"Look, packs stick together," TJ began, "We can't have people turning against each other. We have to work together. Rhydian needs to understand that Matei isn't the enemy."

"And I know what Matei is like," Emilia replied, "Any opportunity to beat himself up about what happened to Jana and he will. He's worked so hard to not hate himself for all of this, and I'm not having Rhydian destroy that."

"I trust Matei," Alric added, "Which is why he will be marring Jana."

"What?!" Maddy exclaimed.

"Did Matei propose to Jana?" Shannon asked in confusion.

"She's pregnant, isn't she?" Tom said, "Rhydian's going to kill Matei."

"Yeah, all that talk about spending time together before you know," TJ added, "They have been spending an awful lot of time together and my mum apparently caught them in bed together, so."

"She what?!" Aran exploded.

"Who are we to judge them, Aran?" Alric asked, "They are enaid cymar alffas, it's right and proper."

"Oh, come on," Selina said, "Jana's been recovering from a near death experience for the past three weeks. He's her enaid cymar- whatever it's called- of course he's going to be there for her. It's like Bella and Edward."

"Before Breaking Dawn," TJ added, "Or maybe it's more like Bella and Jacob?"

Aran gave TJ a concerned and confused look.

"Whatever it is," Alric continued, "There is very good reason for Jana to marry Matei and as quickly as possible. She isn't getting any younger and she needs to provide the pack with an heir, now that's abdicated leadership of the wild pack."

Selina shook her head in disbelief.

Meinir added, "Once Jana finds out about all of this planning of yours, Alric. Well, that will be a very interesting conversation."

"I don't know why Jana would be upset," Emilia answered, "If they're enaid cymar alffas then they'll get married anyway."

"If you apply that logic," TJ answered, "You may as well say that they should start having cubs now because that's only going to happen in the future anyway."

Emilia rolled her eyes in a way that reminded TJ a lot of Matei when he was irritated by something.

"If she isn't already?" Tom added, "You know."

"I'll talk to her," Maddy said, "If she is, then I'll be the one to break it to Rhydian."

"Before he breaks Matei into tiny wolfblood pieces," TJ answered.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Matei had overheard the conversation in the room below with disgust. Rhydian- where to even start? And then them all assuming that Jana was pregnant. They clearly didn't trust him to look after his alpha. No matter what anyone said. At least Rhydian was honest about it.

And at least Jana seemed to be oblivious to what was being discussed. Which meant that she was tried, very tired. The wolfblood senses were the first to switch off when exhaustion set in. Hence why on dark moons all wolfbloods suffered extreme exhaustion and their powers were absent. The lack of the moon was like a lack of red blood cells, it caused exhaustion, the rest was just a domino effect.

Matei looked up at the moon through the large window in Jana's room. It was almost full. In two days they'd be transforming and that transformation would cement all of the positive action that they'd taken over the past few weeks. Yes, the transformation might not cure Jana, but transforming would completely fix her arm, definitely improve her moods, and maybe even help her walking a little. Rather than being afraid of it, they should have been happy that the full moon was coming.

Matei could understand their concern, however he didn't agree with them. Jana wouldn't be a morwal this full moon. He'd done everything in his power to make sure of that. That's why he'd ignored all the comments about being selfish and monopolising Jana. Because they were all wrong, if anyone was going to make a good job of protecting Jana, it was going to be him. He wasn't going to slip up again. And he knew Jana better than anyone else, he was her enaid cymar alffa, he knew her heart by heart, and he knew what she needed to make her happy.

And it wasn't some over protective older brother figure.

It wasn't three packs.

It wasn't moving back into the Kafe again.

It was her alpha.

Him.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK  
Rhydian kicked the cola can into the river earning a tut and a sigh from Maddy who had just come out of the Kafe to join him in the freezing night air.

"I'm sorry," Maddy replied, "I've been harsh to you a lot over these past few days."

"We've all been stressed out," Rhydian replied, "I know I've overstepped the mark and upset the pack but I do worry about Jana and Matei. Is he really her enaid cymar alffa?"

Maddy nodded, "She loves him and he loves her. There's nothing they wouldn't do for each other."

Rhydian sighed, "But she was injured, on his watch."

"And it won't happen again," Maddy reassured him, "Do you know why Emilia was so angry? When you said that you didn't trust Matei?"

"She's his sister," Rhydian replied, "Of course she trusts him."

"It's not just that," Maddy answered, "Those scars, she got them from a house fire. Her parents died in that fire and she would have too. But Matei rescued her, he walked through the flames for her."

Rhydian looked at Maddy with a shocked expression, "But the fear of fire? No that can't be true? No wolfblood could, surely?"

"He did," Maddy replied, "And he would again. For both Emilia and Jana. He'd do anything for the people he loves."

Rhydian nodded understandingly.

"Just like you," Maddy added, "I think part of the reason why you and Matei don't get along is because you're both so alike when it comes to Jana. You both love her so much and want to protect her that you don't see that working together is the better option."

Rhydian smiled, "I'm just not ready for Jana to grow up. She's a little sister to me."

"I get it," Maddy answered, "I might be an only child, but I get it."

"I'm sorry for being so ridiculous," Rhydian answered.

"You were coming from a good place," Maddy added, "And to be honest, I've been a bit grumpy for a while. I'm sorry I snapped at you."

"We're not Jana and Matei," Rhydian answered, "We're not some perfect love story. We argue and we fight, but I wouldn't have it any other way."


	18. Chapter 18

Matei watched Jana as she slept soundly in her bed at the Kafe for the first time in just over three weeks.

He knew she wouldn't make it back to Segolia that night and had called ahead to tell them. It was ok apparently- he just had to make sure she took her medicines and got enough rest.

He couldn't help but smile, Jana was safe and happy now, and they'd been given permission to travel to Norway. All of them- even Meinir and Aran and Alric.

Matei snickered quietly at the idea. Three hours in a private jet going over the North Sea. At least the jet sounded relatively big. Apparently Jana had wolfed out the first time she went on an aeroplane.

Matei and Emilia were both frequent fliers themselves. Their birth parents had taken them to various mountains range across Europe and Asia and they'd holidayed at least twice a year. Amanda and John weren't so into frequent holidays but they'd taken Emilia and Matei to Paris earlier that year.

I wonder how much Jana has seen, Matei thought to himself, being in the wild meant travelling a lot. She must have seen most of Britain. Being able to travel whenever and wherever you wanted sounded like a lot of fun.

"We saved the cake for tomorrow," Katrina whispered as she saw that Jana was fast asleep, "Jana will get angry if we start without her."

Matei smiled, "I'm sure she'll be grateful. You don't have to whisper Jana is an amazingly deep sleeper."

Katrina smiled, "I forgot that. I can't believe it's been three weeks! It feels like Jana's been gone forever."

"I miss seeing her at the Kafe everyday," Matei said, "Constantly telling me she'll 'be finished in just a minute' and that I should really cut back on the amount of chocolate milkshakes and cupcakes."

"Jana's going to be angry when she finds out you haven't cut back at all," Katrina answered, "You should join us for movie night on Friday. We'll probably get Chinese takeaway again, oh, and fizzy worms- don't ask. Oh and watch Lion King- Jana was really obsessed with it."

"Friday?" Matei asked, that was full moon night, "But I need to borrow Jana on Friday."

"Borrow?" Katrina asked, "What are you up to? You know Friday movie and takeaway nights are a really big deal."

"My foster parents," Matei began, "They've been talking to Rhydian's parents and Jana's dad and they're organising something really special. I don't know what, maybe a trip somewhere."

"Where?" Katrina asked.

"I don't know," Matei replied with a nonchalant shrug, "It' supposed to be a surprise."

Katrina nodded, "You know you can't just keep Jana to yourself all the time."

Matei sighed jokily and rolled his eyes, "All right, fine."

Katrina laughed loudly, "She's lucky to have someone like you. Both Emilia and Jana are. But just one thing, this flat isn't really child proof."

Matei went so bright red that he almost glowed in the darkness, "Oh, gods, not you too? I thought it was just the others. Look Jana and I, it's not like that."

Katrina smiled, "Good, because I'm not ready to play third wheel or baby sitter just yet."

"And I think Rhydian would kill me," Matei added.

"You don't have to worry about Rhydian," Katrina told him reassuringly, "He's just overprotective. You're doing everything right. And if he doesn't see how great you are for Jana then he's an idiot."

Matei smiled, "Thanks."

"No problem," Katrina said, "And you're welcome here any time you want. I think your cymar enaid- whatever TJ called it- is waking up."

Matei looked at Jana who seemed to be unsettled and took her hand in his, tracing patterns over the back of it. Trying to comfort her. He knew she was having another nightmare. They always started like this. She'd start fidgeting, and then the murmuring and the crying would start. It had scared him the first time. He'd thought it was a side effect of her injury, but according to Rhydian, Tom, Shannon and Maddy, Jana had been having nightmares on and off for a good couple of years.

Matei kicked off his shoes and moved so that Jana's head was resting on his shoulder. As per usual, she didn't wake up at all. He covered them both carefully with the duvet and wrote a quick text message to his foster parents to tell them he was staying with Jana and that they needed to pick up Emilia.

He stroked Jana's hair as she whimpered, and carefully remove the hair extensions that they'd bought to hide the scar the run along the side and back of her head. He brushed her hair gently with his fingers, remembering that all of Jana's things were still at Segolia and that'd it would be a nightmare trying to brush her hair in the morning.

"Matei!" Jana yelled out in sleep, "The cages, there are too many cages!"

"Jana," Matei said gently, "There's no cages. Everything's going to be ok."

"He's going to destroy us!" Jana yelled.

"No, no," Matei said, "You're safe, fy enaid cymar alffa, I'll always keep you safe. Try to wake up, Jana."

"Why?!" Jana yelled, black vein appearing on her hands and face, "Why do you hate us so much?"

"Jana, fy enaid cymar alffa," Matei said, beginning to panic at seeing Jana so distraught, "Wake up!"

Jana jumped suddenly and then her eyes flew open to reveal that they were wolfblood gold and moments later she burst out crying.

Matei hugged her tightly, telling her over and over again that she was safe and how he loved her so much.

"Are the nightmares ever going to go away?" Jana asked in a shaky and timid voice.

Matei hugged her even tighter, "Of course they will. I won't let this keep on happening. We'll find a solution. I promise you, fy enaid cymar alffa."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

 **Two days later**

"Trust you to forget pretty much everything," Jana complained to TJ as he search through his rucksack for what must have been the billionth time.

"Well I didn't have Matei help me pack, did I?" TJ answered.

"Selina offered to help," Emilia said, earning a laugh from Matei.

"It's only for one night," Matei said, "How much stuff are we going to need for one night?"

"Exactly," Jana said, pointing at her small rucksack and comparing to the large blue one that TJ was holding.

"Running wild," Emilia said excitedly, "In Norway. It's like every wolfbloods dream come true."

"I doubt it will beat Snowdonia," Meinir replied, "But I wouldn't dare miss my alpha's transformation."

Jana smiled, "Thank you, Meinir. You never know, you might grow to love Norway."

"And aeroplanes," Emilia added.

"What is an aeroplane?" Aran asked, sniffing at the inside of the car suspiciously.

"It's something you use to go from one country to another," Jana tried to explain, "It's like a bird. I mean, it looks a little like a bird and you sit inside of it and then you fly and end up somewhere else."

"I'm not so sure about this anymore," Aran said with an immensely worried expression on his face, "I don't feel like being eaten by a giant bird."

"Relax, Aran," Meinir answered, "If Jana trusts the giant bird then it is obviously safe."

"Aeroplanes are safe, aren't they?" Aran asked, looking for reassurance.

"Well-," Meinir began.

"Yeah, of course they are safe," Jana answered, "Relax Aran we'll be at the airport soon."

Aran smiled, "And the others agreed to meet us there?"

Jana nodded, "It's going to be a great night."


	19. Chapter 19

The plane landed in Trondheim airport and everyone let out a huge sigh of relief, even Aran and Meinir who had wolfed out during the flight. To say that the flight had been bumpy was an understatement- they had hit turbulence about an hour or so into the journey and that had been enough to make Jana, Alric, Meinir and Aran panic. At least Jana and Alric had managed to keep their wolves under control. There was no such luck for Meinir and Aran who were too petrified to turn back into humans again during the flight. When they hit the air pockets as they descended to Trondheim only Emilia and Matei (being frequent fliers) had remained calm. Aran and Meinir had howled so loudly that Matei thought that people working on the International Space Station could probably here them.

Matei rubbed Jana's back reassuringly as she built up enough courage to take a peek out of the window. She had slept for most of the journey but the turbulence had been bad enough to wake her up several times and each time she been absolutely terrified and had burst out crying a couple of times.

"We're here," Matei said to her, as Jana blinked drowsily. Outside the sun had already set, although in all fairness the sun only showed itself for a few hours a day at this time of year. Matei could see the lights of the airport terminal and could make out the vague shapes of mountains in the distance. But of course, they wouldn't be transforming anywhere near Trondheim. It was too busy, too many humans. They had about another hour's journey inland.

The aeroplane doors opened and let in a burst of cold night air. Jana's snuggled closer to Matei shivering.

"It's not that cold," Matei said with a smile as he passed her coat to her, "I thought you'd be used to it after spending fourteen years of your life in Scotland and Snowdonia."

Jana shook her head, "It's freezing."

Matei tied her grey woollen scarf carefully around her neck and passed her her gloves.

"It's not even snowing, Jana," Aran said to her, back in wolf form.

"Yeah," Meinir agreed, "This is nothing compared to a blizzard in Snowdonia. This is what happens when you go tame."

"Enough you two," Alric said, pushing past to stand in front of Jana, "Are you sure you're going to be ok? You remember what Dr Whitewood said, if you don't think you're up to joining us out in the mountains then they've set up somewhere for you at the hotel."

"And I can stay with you at the hotel," Matei offered, "If you'd like."

"Me too," Rhydian added, earning a swipe from Maddy. Rhydian smiled apologetically, "I forgot I promised to show Maddy around the valley. This is her first time transforming in Norway. And it's sort of a wolf date."

Maddy rolled her eyes, "I'm not mad that you want to stay with Jana. I'm just mad that you forget your promise."

"Well I didn't completely forget," Rhydian said, "Look, I'll make it up to you, ok."

Maddy smiled, "I know you will."

"Are you forgetting that we need to get moving?" TJ asked in an irritated tone, "This is a couple's date night."

"You're only sour because Selina decided to stay with her parents instead of going with us," Emilia answered.

"Yeah, why was that?" Jana asked between yawns.

"She's got a match against Hannah tomorrow," TJ explained, "Wanted to be up early so she could put in some extra practice."

"I wish Tom and Shannon could be here," Maddy said glumly, "We're supposed to be doing this all together as a pack."

"It was hard enough trying to get Meinir, Aran and Alric to come here," Jana said groggily, "Imara had to argue that they were a serious threat to international security just to get them a place on this flight. This flight was strictly wolfbloods only."

"Well, we'll have to arrange for everyone to come to Canada at some time," Rhydian suggested, "The whole pack."

"Yeah," Maddy said, "And mam and dad will make sure we have hog roast every night."

"Stop making me hungry!" Jana complained.

"Don't worry Jana, my mum said we could get something from the hotel before heading out," TJ said.

"No unless you've decided to stay in," Matei said.

Jana shook her head, "I want to be where my pack is. And if my pack is going to the mountains then that's where I'm going too."

"We can stay with you at the hotel," Maddy volunteered, "Either way the pack will be together."

Emilia nodded, "As much as I want to run wild, you matter more Jana. The last thing we want is for you to be miserable or get sick."

"And I'll just be at the hotel anyway," TJ said glumly, "Since I'm not transforming this month."

"You will soon," Jana reassured him, "Anyway, we can't keep on talking or we'll be late."

Alric and Matei helped Jana stand and she walked unsteadily but successfully to where her wheelchair was at the back of the plane.

"Wow!" Rhydian exclaimed in shock, "I hadn't noticed how much you've improved!"

Jana smiled, "Well hopefully the full moon will fix a few things and I'll be running around again."

"Jana," Alric said cautiously, "You must be realistic."

"I know," Jana said, looking down at her arm, which was now in a blue splint rather than a full cast.

Alric stroked her hair, "You will get better soon, carriad. But you can't expect it to all happen overnight."

"Don't worry," Matei said, hugging her awkwardly, "Tonight is still going to be great."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Jana lay on her bed just taking in the softness of the mattress and pillows and duvet. It was so comfy! She had already eaten the two little chocolates that she'd found on her bed side table and changed into her pyjamas. She was scrolling through the TV channels when her Newcastle pack decided to join her.

"How did you get the biggest room?" TJ asked enviously.

"Yeah, I have to share with Aran again," Matei complained.

"Yes, but only officially," TJ argued, "You'll probably end up sleeping in Jana's room, again."

"At least I get to share with Meinir," Emilia said, "She promised me that she'd tell me more about the wild pack and their traditions."

"It's almost like you're becoming wild Emilia," Matei said glumly.

"I'm just interested," Emilia said with a shrug, "So how comes you go the largest room then?"

Jana shrugged, "I guess it's because I still need some nurses looking after me. And my dad may have terrified Imara into giving me a room worthy of an alpha."

"That seems more likely," TJ answered, "I didn't know you still need nurses."

"Well contry to popular belief," Jana began, "Matei and I haven't reach a home run yet so there are still things I need other people to do."

Matei laughed, "I guess now you'll stop bugging me about the comment I made at the party."

"As for you Matei," Jana began, "You ought to apologize for what you said. You might be a guy but that doesn't mean you get to make crude jokes about our relationship, ok?"

Matei kissed Jana, "Am I forgiven now?"

"You're forgiven if you order room service," Jana said with a yawn, "I'm feeling too lazy to go down to the restaurant."

"Look, if you're tired," Matei began.

"How many times?" Jana snapped, earning a worried look from the other wolfbloods, "I'm staying with my pack. We're going to the mountains and that's final."

"Jana," Emilia began gently, "Are you sure you're ok?"

Jana nodded, "Yes, I'm fine!"

Matei looked at her worriedly. They'd cut down her dosage of antidepressants and mood stabilisers by half again. The nightmares were worse than before and Jana struggle to get a good night's sleep also she seemed too emotional. But he'd been told that it was just a normal part of the full moon process, and the team was still expecting for Jana to show some morwal traits, although they agreed with Matei that it was unlikely that Jana would become a full morwal that night.

Matei picked up the menu and ordered and a few minutes later there was a knock on the door- one the human staff members with a trolley full of food.

Emilia stared at the trolley with amazement, "You know it's bad to transform after just eating. You'll get terrible cramps, you always do whenever you decide to have a meat feast right before wolfing out."

Matei smiled, "This isn't all for me. Or you either, greedy guts. Jana hasn't eaten much all day. I don't want her getting hypoglycaemic tonight. And of course, TJ will probably be up all night watching Avengers movies."

"Well that is one good thing about not transforming," TJ said, "You mum can't nag you."

"Well I'm sure your mum will find out anyway," Matei answered, "But at least you'll have all this food."

Jana eyed a steak greedily and Matei rolled his eyes before cutting it up and passing it to her.

"I thought injuries to the hypo-what's it called didn't affect coordination or balance?" Emilia asked in confusion.

"Jana bruised other parts of her brain too," Matei explained, "That's why she can't walk all that steadily, and why she struggles with some coordination stuff like cutting up food and brushing her hair. Although, in all honestly, it's a nightmare to try to get a brush through most days."

Jana laughed, practically inhaling her steak, "You also forget I put both arms out of action. Broke one, clean cut through the muscle in the other one."

Emilia winced, "But at least you didn't need that other operation in the end. To fix your arm."

Jana smiled, "Yeah. It turns out I'm allergic to morphine and pretty much every other thing they gave me during the operation. My breathing kept on speeding up and slowing down no matter what they tried. I must have scared them senseless. It's weird though, when I got shot, I never reacted to anything the vet gave me."

"Wait? You got shot!" Matei exploded, black veins appearing on his face and hands.

Jana nodded, "A traveller came onto our territory and went after us with a gun. I had to lead him away, and when he fired."

"He hit you," Emilia answered quietly.

Jana nodded, "But my pack took me to Stoneybridge and Rhydian, Shannon and Tom helped me to get better. Then everything happened with...Kincaid... And after that I decided to stay in the human world."

"What's Kincaid?" Emilia asked.

"Kincaid was a crazy nutter," TJ said, "He thought all wolfbloods were evil and should be eradicated. He kidnapped Jana's pack and tried to transform them into humans, he succeed with Meinir but Jana and her pack stopped the rest of them from being transformed. That's why Meinir took the serum to get her wolf back and why she ended up with pneumonia. Kincaid's serum pretty much destroy who she was but Segolia and our pack helped her get better."

"Kincaid kidnapped you?" Matei asked, with intense pain in his voice. The nightmares... They had to be related to this... And if that was true... Then Jana was suffering for PTSD too... And he had to make sure she got help because if it was anything like it had been for him... Well he didn't want her suffering like that. Was that the reason she'd come to him the night of the accident?

"He locked me and my pack in a cage," Jana said with a shudder, "That was after he drugged us with something he put in some meat and then we were all asleep and he used the serum on us...and...and...look I don't want to talk about this ok."

Matei took Jana's hand in his and TJ took her other hand.

"It's ok Jana," Emilia reassured her, "You're safe now. Come on TJ, let's go and find the others."

TJ nodded, taking the hint, and squeezed Jana's hand reassuringly before following Emilia out into the corridor.

Matei was afraid to look Jana in the eye. Afraid they might both crumble into pieces if he did.

"Is that why?" he began, with a shaky voice, "On the night of the accident. Is that why you came over to mine?"

"Yes," Jana said, in a small shaky voice.

Matei hugged Jana tightly, tears running down his face, "Why didn't you tell me afterwards? You didn't have to go through this alone."

Jana shook her head, tear-drops dripping onto Matei's shirt, "You already had so much to worry about."

"Jana," Matei began, "I'm your enaid cymar alffa. It's my job to be there whenever you need, however much you need me."

"It just seems unfair," Jana replied, "I always need you more. I feel like I'm taking you away from your sister. And it would be too much stress for you."

"Let me decided how much is too much for me," Matei replied moodily, "When did they start? The nightmares, when did they start?"

"After I was shot," Jana began timidly, "And nearly died from the wound."

Matei let out a loud sigh, "Go on."

"It wasn't much back then,," Jana tried to reassure him, "I'd just have a few dreams every now and then. But I knew something wasn't right, I attacked a guy at school for making a joke about Katrina's dog down. And I kept on having these flashbacks of whenever someone had said I was a terrible alpha or leading my pack to ruin. And then everything happened with Kincaid and it just snowballed from there."

Matei kissed Jana's head, allowing his tears to drop onto her hair, making it damp in minutes. And Jana cried loudly too, her hands clutching tightly to Matei's shirt , her head resting on his shoulder as he gently stroked her hair.

"Come on," Matei said, "We have to go and meet the others if you are sure you want to go into the mountains."

Jana dried her eyes on her sleeve, and nodded, looking down at the black veins on her hands, "It's time. Let's go."


	20. Chapter 20

"Sorry," Jana began, one arm around Matei's shoulders, the other holding onto one of the crutches for dear life, "I'm not very good at this. I should have practised more."

"They should have cleared the paths later," Matei replied, trying to take as much of Jana's weight as possible, "But I guess they weren't expecting a blizzard."

Jana bit her lip and then cussed silently at herself- there was no time to be afraid. The moon would be up in ten minutes and she had to be outside with her pack, she'd made that promise to herself. They needed to see that she was strong, that she was getting better.

"Nevermind," Jana said in as nonchalant a voice as she could manage.

"Hey," Matei said, turning his head so that her eyes met his, "We're going to all stick together tonight. No one is going running off. We're a pack, and I'm your enaid cymar alffa. If you decide you want to go running all over the valley until the early hours, then we'll follow you. But if you decide to stay near the hotel, then that's where we're going to stay too."

Jana smiled, "Thank you. I know it sounds all silly, me worrying about transforming, when it's the most natural and healthy thing for an injured wolfblood. But, I know this will sound crazy, but I thought that after the accident things might have changed so much that I'd lose my wolf forever. I thought the injury to my brain might have affected my wolf, I was so happy the first time I veined up."

"TJ wasn't," Matei recalled, "He nearly became dog food. I don't thinking you're crazy at all Jana, I guess we don't really know all that much how science and being wolfblood work together. Segolia only knows a few things. I think it would normal for us to panic and wonder that if something changed us as a human then it might change our wolf too."

"Like with the morwal," Jana added, "How when we go through something traumatic our wolf changes too."

"But you won't be a morwal," Matei promised her.

"I know, fy enaid cymar alffa," Jana said with a smile, "You made sure of that."

Matei laughed, "Anything for my soulmate alpha."

Jana smiled, and then looked down at her hands and panicked slightly, there wasn't much time until they transformed. Matei sensed this too but worried as Jana sped up quickly, her balance not good enough for her to move so faster.

Jana slipped slightly and Matei grabbed her quickly before she could fall.

"Thank you," Jana said in a panicked and out of breath voice as Matei's arms wrapped tightly around her.

Seconds later, she felt her feet leave the floor again and a moment after she realised what had happened and let a growl.

"Hey," Matei said with grin, "Don't get all growly with me. We need to get outside before our tails start appearing."

Jana rolled her eyes, "I am your alpha! This is totally inappropriate behaviour."

"Whatever," Matei said shaking his head and waiting for the automatic doors to open. The cold air hit them hard, snowflakes falling down so fast that they could barely see where they needed to go, "You can punish me later."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"What on earth?!" Emilia asked, her eyebrows raised, "Is that Matei? And where's Jana? I thought he was bringing her after her nap. And what is he carrying?"

"Our alpha," TJ said as he could hear Jana complaining at Matei.

"Jana's not going to like that," Rhydian said with a smile, "She hates being treated like a baby."

"Someone really needs to tell them two to get a den," Maddy added with a laugh, "I can't stand wolf form PDAs anymore than human ones."

"But we're going on our date tonight," Rhydian said, "So whilst I will beat up Matei if he tries anything inappropriate with Jana, I'm just going leave them to it."

"Yeah, well I wish he'd hurry up a bit," TJ said, fidgeting, "As soon as you lot transform I'm going back inside. It's freezing out here and remember we're at all inclusive. So the first thing I'm doing is going to cafe for hot chocolate and some more of that fudge pudding."

"Please, don't mention fudge pudding," Emilia said with a grimace, holding her stomach, "I think Matei's reflux before transformation is catching."

TJ laughed, "You're only feeling rough because you've had too much sugar. A good night's running will help that. Covacis, eh? Complete and utter sugar addicts."

"What was that you were saying, TJ?" Matei asked, catching up with them and placing a disgruntled Jana carefully down next to him.

"You heard," TJ answered.

Jana grimaced at Matei who shrugged and then let out a little laugh, "Oh, come on, Jana. We couldn't be late."

"Your forgetting that an alpha is never late," Jana said, with narrowed, "Everyone else is just early."

Maddy shook his head, "I take full responsibility for this. I was the one who introduced her to Princess Diaries."

"You needn't worry too much," TJ replied, "My mum is the same with me. If mum's late, it's all I'm so sorry but the train was delayed, or the bus broke down, or the car wouldn't start, but if it's me it's you're never on time and you're going to be grounded forever."

"I think that's most tame wolf mams," Maddy replied.

"And a lot of humans too," Emilia answered, "We just got lucky with our foster parents, didn't we Matei?"

Matei nodded, "Although we'd have never got away with ordering that much chocolate if Amanda and John were here."

"Well that's why we have to make tonight special," TJ said, "Because it's no parents night."

"Not quite," said Imara, appearing up behind him suddenly, and making him jump out of his fur, "And if you aren't in bed by ten thirty, and lights out, I will know."

The rest of the pack burst out laughing as Imara turned away to talk one of the other Segolia employees.

"The scary thing is she likely will," Matei added, "Nothing gets past your mum."

"Talking of parents?" Jana said, "Do you know where my dad is?"

"I think he set off early with Aran and Meinir," Matei said with a shrug, "Don't be upset, I'm sure he'll catch up with us later on."

"I get the Aran and Meinir don't like transforming close to human building," Jana said, "But I'd hoped he'd be here for when I transformed."

"Jana," TJ began, "I've known tons of girls with scary fathers, but your dad is on a whole other level. One thing I know that's true for wolfblood and human girls is that their scary dad is always there when they need him."

Jana smiled, "I guess I'm just getting too sentimental. Dad and Aran and Meinir are going back to the wild pack in a couple of days time. I'll miss them so much though."

"Told you she was starting to sound like a human," a familiar voice said.

"Even smells a bit like one," another voice added.

"Did you actually think I'd leave you on your own?" Alric asked as Jana turned, around carefully, her face lit with a beaming smile.

"Dad!" she said hugging him exuberantly.

"You should really lay off the fake fresia," Aran told her, "It smells dreadful."

Jana blushed, she'd only bought that perfume because she thought Matei might like it but so far he hadn't even appeared to notice it at all. Of course, she should have expected Aran and Meinir to tease her about it.

"I think Jana's new perfume is lovely," Matei said and Jana almost exploded with delight.

"Only if you have blocked sinuses," Meinir replied.

Jana rolled her eyes, ok, so she might have used a little too much. But it had been worth it.

"This is such a buzz," Emilia said, before crouching down and placing her small hands into the snow, "So much better than in the den."

"Yeah, we really need to redecorate that place," TJ said, "It's so gloomy and we're running out of glow sticks."

"Noted," Jana said, as Matei helped her crouched down, "I'll ask Katrina if we can borrow some Tunisian sandcastle paint."

Her pack surrounded her all in different stages of transformation. Emilia was the first to wolf out, it was usually the way- the youngest had the least impulse control so that transformation was always smoother and quicker for them. Then it was Maddy and Rhydian, transforming almost at the same time, just as soulmates usually did. Then Aran, then Meinir and then Alric, all howling loudly as they become wolves. Meinir jumped on Aran playfully, earning a growl and Emilia rolled in the snow until she was covered in so much snow that she looked like a white wolf which black splotches, rather than a black one.

"Ready?" Matei asked and Jana nodded before moments later Matei transformed.

Jana glanced over at Matei, who looked up at her expectantly. He looked so handsome in wolf form. The right combination of muscle and cuteness. Jana smiled before suddenly panicking. Her and Matei were soulmates- they should have transformed at the same time.

Jana covered her face with her hands and panicked tears fell from her eyes. Her worst fears couldn't be right, could they? The fall couldn't have knocked her wolf out of her. Could it?

"Jana," TJ said gently, placing a hand on her shoulder, "You've been through a lot. That might affect your transformation."

Jana shook her head, sobbing, ignoring Matei who was rubbing his head sympathetically again her legs,"I've lost her! She's gone! I've lost my wolf!"

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"I'm glad they finally saw sense," Dr Whitewood said to Shannon and Tom as they hurried through the corridors to the main meeting point where all the wolfbloods had just transformed, "Jana is far from fully recovered. It's freezing out there. If she can't walk in wolf form..."

"Her pack would look after her until we got there," Tom said, "I know Matei. There's no way he's leaving her tonight."

Shannon nodded in agreement, "And if Rhydian even suspected that the slightest thing was off, he would stay with her too. And she has her father there."

Dr Whitewood nodded, "I just want to make sure that everything is ok for myself. I want to see if the serum I used on Meinir has worked, and I want to know that Jana is ok."

The small group rushed out into the bitingly cold night air, just as TJ came running towards them, his face panic stricken.

"It's Jana," TJ explained, out of breath, "She had trouble transforming and then when she did she collapsed."

Shannon and Tom exchanged a panicked look before darting off into the night.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Matei let out a low whine and made it clear to the rest of the pack that they were to give Jana space. He nuzzled at her unconscious wolf, before laying down next to her in the hopes of passing some of his warmth to her. She was already cold and wet from the snow and was shivering and her heart was beating fast, her breathing extraordinarily fast too.

Alric stood over the two wolves protectively, growling as he saw the figure approaching and them calming as he smelt the familiar scents.

Jana fidgeted slightly, her eyes opening slightly and looking at each of the individuals pleadingly.

"She was the last to transform," TJ began, "She was scared she wouldn't because she thought she'd transform at the same time as Matei. Then all of a sudden she did and she was so happy and she even managed to walk around for a little bit and sort of half run. Then she just got really wobbly and passed out."

"It could be exhaustion," Dr Whitewood, "I did mention to Imara about ensuring that Jana was kept inside tonight. I had a feeling that Jana might not be up to transforming in the wild. As soon as the weather turned, they should have insisted. I'll run a few tests when we get inside. The biggest danger is hypothermia. We'll go to the indoor den. Her pack are likely going to want to stay with her and the other rooms will be too small."

Tom and TJ helped to carry Jana, whilst Shannon beaconed for the pack to follow her. Matei walked right next to Jana, nuzzling at her every few seconds earning a little tired wolf smile here and there.

Soon they were back at the hotel entrance and rushing through the corridors to the indoor den. The snow fell off of the wolves quickly as the heating hit them and they rushed into what appeared to be an old sports hall that had been transformed into everything a wolfblood might want. There was things to climb on, bowls filled with water and meet and even a little den area, with soft cosy beds and blankets.

The boys placed Jana carefully in one of the beds, covering her with a lot of blankets. She looked up at them with sad but grateful eyes.

Her pack stood around her, all of them looking worried. She gave them a slight nod and moments later them dispersed slightly. But no one was interested in mucking about, they were all still worried sick about her. Matei stayed right by her side and after a minute or so of shaking off any droplets of water and ensuring that he was dry, he curled up next to her as Jana shivered.

Alric and Rhydian sat next to them, sharing occasional worried glances.

Dr Whitewood began checking Jana's vital signs and after being reassured that they were all good she told some human employees to fetch her equipment for the helicopter.

"Just exhaustion," Dr Whitewood told them, looking at each of the humans and wolves in turn, "Jana needs to rest, and she needs hot liquids to make sure she doesn't get hypothermia. Maybe some red meat later on."

The humans and wolves nodded in understanding.

Jana looked up at her with a little smile.

"Rest now," Dr Whitewood said to her, "You're going to be ok."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Matei woke up groggily and panicked as he remembered the events of the night before. He pulled Jana quickly into his arms, feeling her hair-not fur- tickle his chin, she stirred a little, letting out a murmur.

She was warm, he thought happily, and at some point during the night it look liked she'd ate some of the meat. Someone had also brought some hot water bottles as well, and the little den now felt very cosy indeed.

He looked around him. Alric and Rhydian both were fast asleep, half sitting up, half slouched as they rest against the frame of the wooden half shed like structure of the den. Beyond them he could Emilia, asleep next to Aran and Meinir, her hair messy and her head resting on her arm as she always did when she was asleep. TJ and Shannon and Tom had all crashed along the side of one of the walls as well.

Matei looked up quickly as one of the doors opened carefully to reveal a worried Imara and Dr Whitewood.

Emilia stirred a little, before sitting up, still half sleeping, and yawning and rubbing at her eyes.

TJ woke up too and smiled at his mum reassuringly, "It's just exhaustion. Jana tried to push herself too far."

Imara nodded before giving TJ, Emilia and Matei a sad but hopeful smile, "How is she?"

Matei looked at Jana lovingly, "She'll be ok. I tried to tell her not to run but she wouldn't listen. I should have been more forceful."

"This is Jana we're on about," Imara said with a smile, "Since when has she ever listened to any of us. I'm glad she's going to be ok. I'll go and ask them to bring breakfast here. We'll be leaving around midday for the airport."

"She won't need this anymore," Dr Whitewood said, carefully removing the IV from Jana's hand.

Jana stirred a little again before blinking a few times and looking up at her friend with tired eyes, "Thank you. If you hadn't been there, I..."

"Just rest, Jana," Matei said, stroking her hair, "Everything's going to be ok."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"You're missing all of this great stuff," TJ said to Jana, holding out a bacon sandwich in front of her, "Come on, it's a feast fit for an alpha.

Jana looked up sleepily, from where her head rested on Matei's shoulder, "I ate too much at breakfast, I just want to sleep."

Matei looked at her with concern, Jana was absolutely shattered- in fact, he'd barely had enough time to get her strapped into her seat on the plane before she was fast asleep. He had placed his scarf carefully around her neck to keep her warm and wrapped his coat around her. Most of Jana's clothes had been drenched from the snow and, although she'd borrow a coat and scarf of Maddy's, they needed to make sure that she'd didn't get too cold, which was much more of a risk for someone who was unable to move much.

"Well there's a microwave and kettle back there if you need it," Imara said, making sure that all of the cubs were comfortable and smiling as she saw that they were all hungrily munching their way though the contents of their packed lunches.

"We'll be home soon,"Matei reassured Jana, "It'll be better for you to sleep anyway. Then you won't notice the turbulence."

Jana fidgeting a little, nodding, and placing an arm around Matei. He smiled and kissed her hair, resting his own head gently on hers.

TJ rolled his eyes, "Soulmates. Next time I'm going to invite Selina."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK  
Katrina was watching Next Top Model when the door bell rang. She got up with a sigh, hoping that it was Jana. Segolia had called ahead to say that they were delayed by bad weather and would be late. It appeared that Matei and the gang had arranged a surprise day trip for Jana and Katrina was more than a little sad that she couldn't have joined them. Although in all fairness, it would have been hard to find someone to cover her shift.

Katrina opened the door to see that Jana was fast asleep, slouched over in her wheelchair. Matei and Emilia standing behind her.

"Jana exhausted herself," Matei explained, "She pushed herself a little too far, but she's going to be ok."

Katrina let out a sigh of relief and helped them move Jana into the flat. Matei placed the sleeping girl on the couch, wrapping a blanket around her and making sure that she had enough pillows and her wolf toy next to her.

"I don't think she's going move from there in a while," Katrina said, "Where did you go again?"

"Oslo," Matei said, "A favourite holiday place of mine and Emilia's. We used to go there almost every year with our birth parents."

Katrina smiled, "Well I look forward to seeing the photos."

So did I, Matei thought to himself, he looked forward to seeing how well Segolia could photoshop Jana into his family's photos.

"I was just going to order a curry," Katrina said, "You can stay if you like."

Emilia and Matei nodded.

"Thank you," Emilia said, "Amanda said she was making salad tonight. I like Amanda's cooking but I do hate salads."

Matei smiled, "I'll text Amanda to say we'll be late. They shouldn't mind too much, it's not a school night."

Katrina smiled, "Yeah, you're still at school. It seems strange, I always think of you as being older than Jana."

Matei smiled, "There's only a few months difference. And I'll be leaving school soon."

"And what then?" Katrina asked, "Because Jana will be mad if you just up and leave the city."

"I wouldn't leave Jana or Emilia," Matei said, "I know they'd want to stay here. I'd probably go to one of the local colleges or the sixth-form. And then after that uni."

"Matei wants to be a doctor," Emilia said.

Matei blushed, "I know it's such a cliché."

"Well you've had a lot of practice with Jana," Katrina said, "Now, who do you think is going to win the modelling competition?"


	21. Chapter 21

**Three months later**

Jana carried the tray carefully over to where her pack was gathered in its usual corner of the Kafe. It had taken a while to convince both her pack and Katrina's father that she was ok to start work again but the past week she had done her best to prove it to them and it all seemed to be going well.

Matei looked up at her with concerned eyes- of course, he wasn't going to stop panicking about her, after she'd collapsed in Norway he'd been by her side practically every day for a fortnight. It was lucky that Amanda and John were so understanding. But now that exam season was in full swing, Matei hadn't been around quite so much. He, Selina and TJ all had their heads buried in revision books as Jana carefully placed their drinks on the table.

"One coffee with no milk," Jana said, "One chai latte and two chocolate iced frappes with whipped cream, chocolate sprinkles and chocolate stars."

Matei smiled, and looked up at Jana with loving eyes, "Thank you. You know me too well."

"Well we are her pack," Selina said, "Thanks, Jana. Is everyone still up for pizza night at the den tomorrow night?"

"Totally," TJ said, "I'm going to need comfort food after tomorrow's chemistry mock exam."

"Chemistry's not that bad," Matei replied, "In fact, it's actually really interesting."

TJ rolled his eyes.

Jana sat down next to Emilia, "I never had you down as a nerd, Matei."

Matei smiled as he copied an equation from his textbook, "Well like I've said before, there's a lot you still don't know about me, Jana."

"You two seriously need to get a den," Emilia said before taking a sip of her frappé.

"And I need help getting this into my brain," TJ said, pointing at a bag in his textbook, "How comes it's all so easy for you two?"

"Well to start off," Selina answered, "We do actually pay attention in class."

Matei nodded, "And we do the homework."

"Hey!" TJ said, "Matei that only ever happened once. And you're not exactly straight laced yourself. Didn't you get lunch time detention the other day?"

"Hannah deserved it," Matei said glumly.

"I told you I don't need you to fight my battles," Emilia said, placing a hand on his arm, "I can already punch better than you."

Matei smiled, "I can't argue against that."

"So what did you do?" Jana asked. Surely Matei hadn't beaten up Hannah? He wasn't that kind of guy, but if Hannah had said something horrible about Emilia... Well Matei would go to any lengths to protect his sister.

"Nothing much," Matei said, "I swore at her and said that things would be much worse for her if she ever said what said to Emilia again."

"She said I ought to have died in the fire," Emilia admitted quietly, picking at her gloves, "You know sometimes I wish I'd gone to the wild pack with Meinir when they left."

Jana smiled sympathetically, placing a hand on Emilia's. It had been tough for her when her father and friends left. But Alric was right, any longer and he may well find the wild pack was no longer his, he'd been balancing on a knife edge and was about to fall off. As much as he loved Jana, he couldn't throw away everything. Of course her father hoped she would return to the wild one day. But he was happy to accept Jana living in Newcastle, so long as she visited at least every few months.

"You still write to her don't you?" Jana asked, "Maybe I could get Segolia to arrange a visit."

Emilia smiled, "Of course I do. Meinir's told me so much about fire walkers and she told me that there are people in the wild pack who know so much about the history of them and their powers and that might be able to teach me. I absolutely have to go back there soon, please tell Segolia that."

"I will," Jana promised, "The next time I get a chance, I'll make sure that we all go together."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"She lied to us!" Emilia exclaimed, "All that about being a pack and going to the wild pack together. It was just rubbish. "

Matei slammed his cup down on the table, "You don't know just how difficult a position I am in right now. You and TJ essentially blackmailed me. You knew I wouldn't just let you go off to the wild pack by yourself and then TJ took my phone when I tried to stall. Jana's going to go nuts when she finds out! And she's my enaid cymar alffa. I'm supposed to be loyal to her."

"And I'm your sister, Matei," Emilia said, "You used to say that I came first out of everyone."

"You and Jana come first," Matei answered, "I'm not going to have you two fighting each other. And Jana is our alpha so we should listen to what she says."

"And she should keep her promises," Emilia argued.

"This was a sudden thing," Matei explained, "Jana didn't know that Dr Whitewood wanted to check on Meinir so soon. There was no time for us to arrange to go. You know, I feel sick just even talking about this."

"Matei," Amanda said in a worried voice, "Aren't you joining us for dinner?"

Matei shook his head, "I've got too much revision."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK  
"Wake up!" Emilia whispered to a tired Matei as his phone alarm beeped.

It was five in the morning and Matei had forgotten that he'd set his phone to wake him up so early. He hadn't got to bed until two that morning, he'd spent most of the night worrying and feeling queasy, so much that he'd had to rush to the bathroom twice. The second time Amanda had caught him, and thinking it was just exam nerves and nothing more, had spent a good thirty minutes telling Matei how great he was going to do on the mock. That only made Matei sicker, knowing he was going to disappoint his foster parents by bunking off and worse still, encouraging Emilia.

But he couldn't leave her to go alone. What is something happened? He had to protect her.

He was caught in a difficult situation trying to keep on the right side of Jana and his foster parents whilst trying to protect his sister.

Emilia shook him again, earning a tired grimace from him. Then she threw his scarf and coat at him and placed his bag down on the end of his bed.

"I thought Katrina was packing lunch?" Emilia asked.

"She is," Matei answered, rubbing his eyes, "But if I'm going to make it through a car journey with her I'm going to need books."

"Mr Jeffries book?" Emilia asked, "You've read it five times already."

"You wouldn't understand," Matei answered.

"I know, it's Jana's life story," Emilia answered, "Well at least her life in the human world. You feel like you're getting to know her better through Jeffries' book, it's as if it's filling in all the blanks. But it is wrong. You should just ask Jana if you want to know something."

"Emilia," Matei began angrily, "Jana's been through a lot too. Living in the wild, it's not all meadows and daisies. There are things that Jana can't talk about right now, but Jeffries book, it explains those things. And although it might be wrong in some people's eyes, I need to know how to keep Jana safe and that book is going to help me. Now let's get going. I just want this day to be over and done with."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Jana tried to call TJ's phone. Where was he? Imara seemed panicked. Surely TJ wasn't missing.

One day away from her pack and already everything was falling to pieces. She tried to call him twice but still no answer.

"I'm sure he's ok, Jana," Dr Whitewood said, "Whatever he's up to. Don't they have exams today?"

Jana nodded, "That's why he's not answering his phone. No phones in exam halls. But TJ should have really called Imara before, whatever she wanted to talk to him about, it sounds urgent. I don't know why she though he was with us. Oh and that reminds me..."

Jana text Matei:

 _Good luck fy enaid cymar alffa, I know you'll do amazingly xxx_

Matei's phone beeped a second later, "I think we need to pull over. I feel sick."

"Yeah, and I need to pull over too," Katrina said shifting uncomfortably in her seat, "Too much mint tea."

Matei smiled to himself, maybe the experience of peeing behind a bush would get Katrina to change her mind. Then they'd all have to turn around. He might even be in time for the chemistry mock...

"Word of advice," Matei said, "Avoid ivy."

Katrina turned pale.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

The wild pack picked up Jana's scent and that of another person and turned to each other with a look of both excitement and worry. The put down the baskets they were making and ran to make a relaxed half circle around the entrance to the camp.

Aran crawled groggily out of his shoddily built tent and sniffed the air around him. Jana... His alpha... She was back. But how?

The last time he'd seen her she couldn't even walk properly. It had been three months. Had three months really been a long enough time for her to get better enough for her to be able to make the journey to their territory? The trek was difficult for a healthy human, let alone an injured wolfblood. It was a good three hours uphill.

Aran joined the group and soon the red haired girl and the human doctor appeared. Not only was Jana walking, but she was walking effortlessly and carrying what appeared to be a very heavy silver case. But where was Matei? Where were the others? When he'd last seen Jana, Matei wouldn't leave her alone for two seconds.

Jana placed down the case and flung herself into his arms. He breathed in her scent. There was no long the taint of an injury, nor could he smell any antidepressants or mood stabilisers (they usually left a trace in a wolfblood's scent). His Jana was here, fully healed, and she looked happier than she had in a long time.

And he was about to ruin that.

She hugged the cubs quickly before turning back to him.

"Where's my father?"

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Matei sniffed cautiously as they approached the clearing, something was off. They weren't going the wrong way, in fact they were nearly at the wild pack. He could tell that Emilia and TJ sensed it too. Even Katrina had an inkling that something was seriously wrong.

Suddenly the crows all fled from the trees.

Moments later the first wild wolfbloods appeared.

The wild and tame packs snarled and each other ferociously, veins and eyes all showing, no one caring about Katrina who looked on petrified.

Jana picked up on her pack's scent and with an irritated sigh began to run towards, then noticing how quiet it was around her, she came to the realising that the wild pack must have got there before. She picked up the speed, if they hurt any of them, if they hurt Matei... What was her pack doing there anyway?

Jana didn't have time to be angry right now, she was just worried.

Hopefully she would get there in time to save her pack.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Jana collapsed by the root of a tall oak tree and cried loudly. She didn't care that the wild pack might here and think it a sign of weakness. She didn't care at all.

Her father was dying and despite all of Madoc's efforts nothing seemed to be working at all. In fact in the few hours she'd been there he'd seemed to get sicker and sicker.

She sensed Matei tentatively approaching her.

"Go away!" she yelled between sobs.

"I know you're angry at me," Matei said calmly, "But Jana, please."

"You betrayed my trust!" Jana yelled "And put your sister in danger by bringing her here! What on earth were you thinking?"

"I didn't have a choice," Matei began feebly, "I tried. I really did. I tried to do whatever I could. But Emilia's been going on about the wild so much and then she asked Katrina to come with us. I came here to protect her."

"She's twelve, Matei," Jana said angrily, veining up, "She's still a cub. You could have stopped her. Don't you think I already have enough to worry about with you putting yourselves in danger? And you just had to bring Katrina along as well. Now she knows our secret. You should be lucky I got there in time. The wild pack would have ripped you all to shreds."

"Jana, I'm grateful for that," Matei said, sinking to his knees in submission, "And I swear I've learnt from my mistakes. Nothing like this will ever happen again."

"You can't talk your way out of this one," Jana answered, "I know you've helped me and that you love me and all of that but this was a betrayal. You might be fy enaid cymar alffa, but this is not how a soulmate alpha acts towards his alpha."

"Jana," Matei said, "Just let me help you."

Jana looked up at him miserably, and although it took all of her strength she chocked out the words, "Matei, just leave me alone."


	22. Chapter 22

Cadwr gestured to the objects around him in the tent, "Us wildies might prefer to hunt in wolf form, for the most part. But cubs, like myself, and some of the more... Unusual adults... They like to use human weapons."

Emilia and Matei looked at the weapons in awe. There were several carves stones engraved with what looked like Celtic symbols, there were several fishing sticks and there was even a bow and arrows.

"Don' touch that!" Cadwr yelled, as Matei reached out to touch the bow, "It's our alpha's. No one else is supposed to touch it. I mean... Not our alpha, not at the moment..."

"Jana?" Matei asked in surprise, "This is Jana's?"

Cadwr nodded, "Jana was never big on hunting in wolf form. When Jana was our alpha we were the best fed pack for miles. Jana has a perfect aim."

Matei smiled, "I guess I'll just have to make sure I don't get on Jana's bad side."

"Oh, you never could," Gwyn reassured him, picked up a smaller stone, and passing it quickly between her hands, "You're her enaid cymar alffa. If Alric is cured we may have a handfasting yet."

"Handfasting?" Emilia asked curiously, "Is that a wedding? Matei's far too you to marry."

"Actually," Gwyn answered, "I'd say Matei's getting on a bit. Most wild wolfblood boys marry at thirteen."

Matei and Emilia looked at each other in shock.

"And wolfblood girls?" Emilia asked.

"Any time between twelve and fifteen years," Gwyn answered, "Aran's parents are helping me to find a good match considering there are no cubs of my own age in our pack who are eligible."

"So Meinir and Aran?" Emilia asked curiously, "Who are they married to?"

"Emilia!" Matei exclaimed.

"Aran..." Cadwr said with a sigh, "Jana says there's a special secret reason why he isn't married, but we have our own way of putting it. There's probably a similar tame saying. You know how some people like wolves and others, um, like rabbits."

Matei nodded in understanding, it was an odd saying, but far more obscure than most human saying about sexuality.

"Not that there's anything wrong with rabbits of course," Gwyn answered, "But most of the pack elders look down on it, because a union of that kind wouldn't produce cubs. As for Meinir, well she had her eye on a healer boy from another pack back when she was fourteen, apparently, but they were caught... Well I don't know what they were doing exactly... And Meinir has only ever had short relationships with the guys in her gang ever since."

"And now she's human,"" Cadwr added, "She might even marry a human."

"That's unlikely," Gwyn answered, "Meinir was still massively wild when she left. She'll find her way back. I'm sure of it. Now... Matei, we need to talk about the handfasting ceremony."

"Erm," Matei said awkwardly, putting his hands in his coat pockets, "I think everyone might be busy at the moment with Alric being so ill."

Gwyn let out a loud laugh and even her blonde haired friend looked up from her sewing with a beaming grin, "Oh, Matei! The girls organise everything and all the men have to do is hunt. Alric will be so glad if I start the planning now. In fact, with him being ill it would be a massive weight off his shoulders."

Emilia's eyes widened in surprise, "I thought Meinir had taught me a lot about your customs. It seems I still have so much to learn."

Cadwr smiled at her, "I can teach you."

Emilia smiled, "That would be cool."

Gwyn rolled her eyes, "Anyway, Matei. What is your favourite colour?"

"I don't know," Matei began, "Blue, I guess."

"And favourite flowers?" Gwyn continued.

"I don't really like flowers that much," Matei replied, "I guess, peonies, maybe I don't know."

"Well that's the formal dress planned," Gwyn said, "I'll send it to the pack clothes makers but if you could keep them informed if Jana's dress needs to be altered at any time just let them know, otherwise they might get a little cranky."

Matei looked at Gwyn in confusion and a moment later his almost knocked over a set of fishing poles in shock, "No, no, Gwyn. Jana and I... It's not like that."

"Why not?" Cadwr asked, "It's natural. And we set up Jana's tent earlier."

Matei let out a sigh, "Jana and I, we aren't like that. We're taking things slowly."

"Matei," Gwyn began in a comforting voice, "No one's saying you need to produce a whole pack in one go. But Alric would do better with some reassurances."

Emilia let out a sigh, "Cadwr did you say that you were going to show us how the dream-catchers are made?"

"Yeah!" Cadwr said excitedly, "Let's go."

"You could make one for Jana as a wedding gift," Gwyn suggested to Matei.

Matei let out a sigh, "Actually, I need to find Jana. To talk to her about some things. Look after Emilia for me, yeah?"

"Of course we will," Cadwr said.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"Morning fuchsia affliction?" Katrina almost yelled, "Have they never seen nail polish before?"

TJ shook his head, "They didn't even know what toilet paper was until Jana became alpha. And Jana doesn't really wear make up anyway so it's going to a while before they learn all about it."

"What is wrong with them?" Katrina asked, "You talk about packs and alphas? What is this like wolves or something?"

TJ nodded, "You'll see tonight. But yeah, wolfbloods, not werewolves, although we are similar. We're born with our wolfy powers not bitten. And we don't bite other people either. We're just like everyone else. There's wild wolfbloods like the ones here, and Aran and Meinir who you met before, and then there are tame ones, who live in the human world."

"Like Jana," Katrina answered, "And... And Maddy and Rhydian."

TJ nodded, "And me and my mum, and Matei and Emilia. Oh, and Selina too."

Katrina nodded, "So basically there's this secret species living amongst humans that nearly no one knows about."

"Pretty much," TJ said, "Segolia was set up to help relations between wolfbloods and humans. But the secret still exists. Not all humans are ready to know. We trust humans more than most packs do."

Katrina sighed, trying to hold back tears, "Jana, she lied to me. The undercooked meat- oh, I have a liking for French cuisine! That girl. And the secret celebration trip that I wasn't invited on. Was that on a full moon?"

TJ nodded, "In Norway actually. I'll show you some photos later. But Jana's still Jana. Still the same cappuccino addicted, workaholic, quasi goofy Jana we've always known. Knowing that she has a tail and fur isn't going to suddenly make her a different person."

Katrina smiled, "I just wish she could have told me."

TJ smiled, "Look around you. This is Jana's home. These people, they are Jana's family, her friends, her teachers. This was the only world she knew until she was fourteen. They are afraid of the humans, despite everything Alric and Jana say to try to convince them otherwise. Many of them feel threatened by humans and they spent fourteen years passing on that fear to Jana. She's not going to forget everything she learnt as a child overnight."

Katrina smiled, "I'm just shocked and a little upset. But that doesn't mean that I'd ever betray Jana or any of you. I understand why you'd be afraid to say anything. But I do hope that there will come a time when humans and wolfbloods can live side by side, unafraid of each other."

"That's what Jana's working towards," TJ said, "It's massively unpopular of course. But Jana think that we should trust more humans, but only telling them gradually."

Katrina nodded, "And Mr Jeffries' book, it's all true isn't it?"

"Well," TJ said, "Jana and Rhydian were never like that. I just hope he doesn't write a love triangle between Matei, Jana and Rhydian because that would be so cheesy. And those scenes between the young hot teacher and the scientist are obviously fantasy too. But the rest is pretty accurate."

"I'll have to read it again," Katrina said, "When I can get it off of Matei."

"Good luck with that," TJ answered, before sniffing the air, "I wonder what time dinner is?"

Katrina looked petrified, "I'm not eating raw meat."

"You don't need to," Aran said, appearing with a large basket, "Humans can't eat much raw meat anyway. But you should like these, I hope?"

"Thank you," Katrina said, taking the basket from him and opening it tentatively. Inside there was a selection of different fruits and vegetables and herbs. Some vegetable like a wild onion, another that was clearly water cress. The herbs smelt strong and Katrina recognised the smell of mint. There were even blackberries and blueberries too.

Katrina smiled, feeling tears sting her eyes, these people were even more human than she could have imagined.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Jana was fast asleep when Matei come into the tent. Alric was asleep too, a hand on top of Jana's head. Matei took one of the furs from the side and carefully draped it over Jana's sleeping form. She didn't even stir at all.

The transformation the night before had been epic and like no other that Matei had experienced in his life and it appeared at least from their silent and wolfy communication that he and Jana were on slightly better terms. Either way she needed him, and he couldn't just leave her. He was her alpha, even if Alric wanted Aran to help Jana rule.

He smiled at his alpha, wanting to hug her and stroke her hair, but this was her and her father's time and he wouldn't impose. Matei walked over to a small table decorated with various charms, in the middle was a small wooden bowl and a wooden stick with a flat end, a rudimentary pestle and mortar, it appeared. Inside the bowl was a combination of pungent herbs mixed in a smooth semi-liquid. The smell hit Matei hard, making his dizzy for a second, and he let out a cough- there was something weird about those herbs.

Jana woke up suddenly and jumped when she saw Matei, "Gods. I thought you were Madoc. I was supposed to be giving the herbs to my father but then I was so exhausted and I just fell asleep. I didn't mean to, I swear but..."

"Jana," Matei said calmly, moving to sit next to her, and taking her hand in his, "It's ok. We spent all night out running around and then you came straight here with no break at all. Of course, you were going to fall asleep."

Jana let out a sigh, "Why do you always sound so logical? Like even yesterday, I had to try to be mad at you."

Matei smiled, "I could tell."

"Really I was mad at myself," Jana said, "I should have just invited you and the pack anyway. Then there wouldn't have ever been this mess."

Matei reached out to tuck a strand of hair behind Jana's ear.

"Where is Emilia?" Jana asked with a yawn.

"Out hunting," Matei replied, "With Cadwr. I don't suppose she'll be able to hunt us a couple of cappuccinos and bacon sandwiches with BBQ sauce."

Jana smiled and half laughed, "We do have some wild boar actually. I guess it's a little like bacon. I don't know. I'm not hungry anyway. I swear every time Madoc comes in here my stomach goes to pieces."

"I think it's those herbs," Matei admitted, "They smell at bit off to me."

Jana nodded, "It is odd. I tried to ask him about them earlier and he refused to tell me anything. If we could swipe a few when he's not looking and get them to Doctor Whitewood then she might be able to tell us more about my father can be cured."

Matei nodded, "Let's find her."  
BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Matei raced off into the woods as soon as he saw Cadwr and found out that Emilia was alone. He tried not to panic but he couldn't help wondering about wild boar and adders and about Emilia lost and afraid. It was a stupid idea to let her go off by herself.

"Emilia? Emilia?" Matei yelled out worriedly but there was still no answer.

He sighed, where could she be? He wished he knew Eolas, why hadn't he asked Jana to teach him? That would the first thing he'd ask her to do once her father got better. And if Alric didn't, well he'd have to learn anyway, because if Jana was staying with the wild pack, then he was staying too.

"MATEI!" the terrified scream of his sister rang through his head, and his eyes lit up gold as his heart almost caved in.

An image formed in his mind, a racing torrent of water below them, grass standing sparsely above and his sister and Doctor Whitewood, barely able to hold onto the rock face.

"EMILIA!" Matei yelled in absolute panic before racing off in the direction of the rock face.

Moments later he arrived there, and grabbing Emilia's wrists tightly, began to pull her up the rock face with all his might. He could sense Emilia trying to find footholds but it was no use the rock was too slippery and her winter boots didn't grip well. He quickly gave Dr Whitewood a reassuringly look before continuing to help his sister. Then suddenly Jana was there too, he'd overlooked her scent in all of the commotion, and she was pulling Dr Whitewood up the wall too.

Then suddenly they all fell to the ground, Matei cradling Emilia in his arms, kissing her hair over and over again as she sobbed.

"It was Madoc," Dr Whitewood said, "He's been poisoning Alric."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Katrina jugged Jana tightly.

"Thank goodness that evil man is gone," Katrina said, "I'm going to get Dr Whitewood to check my ankle to make sure he didn't do any weird voodoo on it. The nerve of him to poison your father like that."

Jana smiled sadly, "There will always be those who want to overthrow their alphas. The important thing is that my father is going to live."

"So you're like wolfblood royalty then?" Katrina asked.

Jana smiled awkwardly, "Alphas are similar to kings I guess, and my father does have an unusually large territory. Packs do form alliances, especially through marriages. So yeah, I guess there are a lot of things in common."

"And you're a princess?" Katrina asked.

Jana laughed, "I guess. But I wouldn't call myself that. I was waited on hand and paw when I was younger but I've always wanted to be independent and not rely on everyone to do things for me."

"You can trust us," Katrina said to her friend, "We are your royal court."

Jana laughed, "And the Kafe is our palace. At the pink van is a royal chariot."

Katrina smiled, "That's the idea. And Matei is your prince charming."

Jana nodded, "Definitely. Now there just needs to be a ball."

"OMG, yes!" Katrina exclaimed getting a few odd looks from the surrounding pack members, "We so need to organise that. Just imagine you and Matei dancing, being King and Queen Alphas of the Kafe's first official ball. We have to do this, as soon as we get signal and I reassure my dad that I'm still alive I'm going to start making calls."

Jana smiled, "I'm glad your ok with this. But anything, anything you want to know, just ask."

"Well there is one thing I want to know," Katrina pondered, "Why are you so obsessed with fizzy worms?"

Jana laughed, "Human packaging is misleading."

Katrina smiled, "I guess we have a lot to learn about each other's worlds."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Matei didn't talk at all on the way back to the van and Jana and Katrina shared worried looks every few minutes. It wasn't until Matei stopped suddenly immensely still that Jana knew she had to intervene.

She carefully manoeuvred Matei over to a nearby tree and motioned for the rest of her packs to go on.

Matei broke down immediately, sobbing loudly as Jana hugged him.

"She's gone!" he yelled, "I did everything I could. And now she's gone!"

"You haven't lost her forever," Jana said, "We'll be back soon, I promise. We can even spend the whole winter break here if you want."

Matei sobbed loudly, "It's not going to be the same. Emilia lives here now. What am I going to say to Amanda and John? How am I going to cope without her?"

Jana placed a hand on his cheek, "We'll get through it together."

"Together," Matei agreed, "Always together."

SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 11

Where to start?  
So much happened in that episode and I was so shocked. I'm happy that the Ks all know about wolfbloods now, but I can't believe that they betrayed Katrina like that and put the video online behind her back. I feel so sorry for her and it's so bad that she had no one to talk to about all of this.

I can't believe that Imara and Sweeney were behind the kidnappings. I always knew there was something off about them. But having her own son kidnapped, that's going way to far. And I thought Sweeney was good after helping Jana's pack escape from Kincaid and that she was supportive of Jana.

As for Jatei, wow. They just need to kiss already. At least we got them holding hands and a hug and Matei even mentioned them leading together. They need to go on that cinema date once everything has fixed itself. I was so irritated with them during that scene by the harbour, that would have been a perfect moment for them to kiss but instead they go for a hug.

I can't wait for the finale and I really hope we'll get a series 5 (I saw a rumour on tumblr that there will be a series 5 in 2017 but this hasn't been confirmed yet however I think that they wouldn't have set up a whole new pack in a whole new city just to drop it after one series).

Thanks for the reviews! :)


	23. Chapter 23

Katrina looked over at the sleeping Jana and couldn't help but smile. Wolfblood or not, Jana was still her adorable quirky little flatmate and it was funny to think that all that fire, everything that made Jana an alpha, completely disappeared when Jana was asleep. It was like she'd turned from a fierce wolf into a little puppy.

Matei waved back at Katrina as he walked up to the house, by himself. He'd be miserable most of the journey back, and finding out that he had eighteen missed calls from his foster parents hadn't helped either. When he'd told Amanda that Emilia wasn't coming back... Well Katrina didn't want to recall that.

Katrina drove on towards the Kafe and noticed out of the corner of her eye that Jana was just about to wake up.

"Hey," Jana said in a voice barely above a whisper, she looked around her and with a grimace realised she'd been asleep when Matei left.

Katrina smiled, "Back to the Kafe. Back to two for one cupcakes and prawn kurry specials. It just feels so ridiculous, us having to try to be normal when the reality is nothing is any more. Everything been turned upside down and I'm just expected to go back to the same old person I was before."

Jana put a hand on Katrina's, "The world has always been this way. Wolfbloods and humans. That's never going to change. You're just a part of it now, and I get that this is a massive shock to you, and I'm glad you're going to stand by us, I'm really grateful for that. And I swear if there's anything I can do to help I will."

Katrina smiled, "My dad's going to kill me. What do I tell him and Kay?"

"Well," Jana said, "We'll tell everyone this. You passed your test and then I found out that my dad was seriously ill, so we had to go the camp site where my traveller family is living. We had no signal there and our phones died because there was no electricity, as soon as the doctors arrived to help my dad we came back."

"So basically camping trip from hell?" Katrina asked.

Jana nodded, "Pretty much. What do you think?"

"I can lie," Katrina said, "I can pull it off."

"Good," Jana said, "Because the last thing I'd want to do is damage your relationship with your dad or Kay."

Katrina smiled, "You're the best non-human flatmate that I've ever had."

"Well unless Maylin was a wolfblood," Jana said, "I'm the only non-human flatmate you've had but I'll take it as a compliment. Thank you."

Katrina pulled into the driveway letting out a shuddering breath, Jana sniffed delicately and picked up on the scent of someone inside the flat, someone human.

"How bad?" Katrina asked.

"Just one person," Jana said, "Human."

"Camping trip gone wrong," Katrina said to herself, taking deep breaths, "Camping trip gone wrong."

Jana squeezed Katrina's hand reassuringly, "We've got this."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"What on earth is this?" Kara asked, as she took Kay's phone and watched the video.

"I don't know," Kay said, her voice trembling, "One minute they're all growling and the next they're wolves and Doctor Whitewood was there too. What are they? Jana, what is she?"

Kara shook her head, "I've never heard of anything like this before. It's like werewolves. Do you remember when Liam kept on going on about werewolves? And about Maddy? And even Mr Jeffries now?"

"And Dr Whitewood!" Kay yelled, "They're all in on it. They're trying to hide away these dangerous animals. It's all a conspiracy."

"I always knew there was something not quite right about Segolia," Kara said, "The way they were so interested in Shannon and they just hired Jana straight away even though she nearly failed all of her GCSEs. It's like they're all grouping together, all of these creatures, all in one, all in Segolia."

"But why?" Kay asked, "Why would there be this big corporation right on our doorsteps? A big science corporation that's hiding away these people? What's going on?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Kara said, "These animals are either part of a science experiment gone terribly wrong or either some kind of dangerous new species. But we have no idea how many there are, but obviously there's enough for them to set and need a multinational business like Segolia. Segolia has a key role in the shares market, the economy. It's a werewolf Illuminati. They're trying to take over the world."

"Oh, god, yes!" Kay replied, "That's make so much sense. And Katrina, she's just caught in the middle of this."

"We need to protect her," Kara answered, "We go now."

"And if Jana tries to attack us?" Kay asked, "Her and that boyfriend of hers? What if they try something?"

"Then we have to fight back," Kara answered, "We have to save the world from these monsters."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK  
"Terrible movie," TJ said, reading from his phone, "An epic comedy adventure parody. It's basically taking the mic out of all those teen movie franchises. You know Katniss and Peeta, Tris and Five..."

"Four," Matei corrected.

TJ shook his head, "Whatever. Anyway, it sounds awesome. You should invite Jana."

Selina laughed with a knowing smile.

"I don't think it would be Jana's kind of thing," Matei replied.

"Yeah but you two, back seats, in the dark," TJ suggested, "It would be perfect for you two."

"It's not our style," Matei answered, "Jana and I aren't massively into PDAs. And a cinema, really? Classy, TJ, very classy."

Selina grimaced, "Boys!"

"Back off," TJ said with a smirk, "Anyway, everyone thinks you and Jana..."

"When?" Matei asked, "When we were with the wild pack or before? When TJ? We've been too busy for stuff like that."

Selina smiled, "Don't mind TJ. He just an epsilon."

TJ frowned.

"Huxley," Matei said, "Brave New World reference. You should read it at some point, it changes you."

TJ stared at Matei, "How am I going to cope with you all day?And you and Jana?"

"The same way I cope with you and Selina," Matei replied.

Selina and TJ looked at each other in confusion before blushing and looking away.

"That's odd," Matei replied, looking at the sign.

A moment later a worried looking Jana opened the door, "We need to talk."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK  
Matei punched the wall again and this time he was sure he'd almost dented it.

"Matei, calm down," Jana said, putting an arm around him, "We need to wait. This might all be fixed."

"They saw the video," Matei replied, "We trusted Katrina. My sister was in that video. She might be in danger."

"Katrina has got this," Jana answered, "I trust Katrina, even if you don't. She was afraid. She thought she was going to die or be eaten alive or something like that. She didn't have a clue what was going on."

"She didn't trust us?" Matei asked, in confusion, "To not attack her. She thought we were some wild beasts?"

"Can you blame her?" Jana answered, "When humans think that wolfbloods and werewolves and every legend talks about werewolves being morwals. About them biting and mauling and killing? When was the last time you heard about a nice werewolf in a human story? We know the truth, we know what we are. But Katrina didn't. She had no idea what to expect. So I forgive her, even if you can't."

Matei sighed loudly, "I know it all makes sense. But my sister..."

"We'll be able to protect her," Jana said, "Together."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Jana screamed out Matei's name again but it was no use. All of this was one huge mess, they should have forseen that the Ks would share the video. They should have known. Now it was on every social media site in the world and being downloaded here and there and Mr Jeffries was more popular than ever.

They should have been quicker coming back for Katrina. Her stalling had cost her Matei.

Jana watched in horror as the car sped off into the distance.

She had lost him. Her enaid cymar alffa.

What were they going to do him?

EPISODE 12 SPOILERS:

I need series 5 right now.

That episode was so amazing. I honestly don't know how they can call it a kid's show anymore, it's like each episode is a mini movie. If cbbc doesn't do a series 5, which would be absolutely ridiculous, then I hope that maybe the other BBC channels or would pick it up. In a way I almost wish that wolfblood could be changed to a family show because there would be longer episodes and I feel they could go into depth more in terms of the romantic relationships.

Talking of ships... I am not happy that we have to wait at least another year for a Jatei kiss! They aren't even officially together (they aren't calling each other boyfriend and girlfriend at all, even though they pretty much are)! The way that Matei was so upset when Jana sacrificed herself. And the way he hugged her all those times. Why didn't he just kiss her?

Also, I wasn't surprised that Carrie was the one who started the fire but turning into a human? That was just so wrong. Carrie needs help and it seems like the only person who ever tried to help her the right way was Matei's father.

As for the big reveal, I don't completely get why Jana just decided to reveal the secret like that. Surely they could have though of another option to get out of the mess? Or maybe let things die down a little, so that everyone had time to come to a different conclusion? But I guess what with Jana almost losing her wolf, having her pack kidnapped and their wolves almost taken away she probably wasn't able to think too straight. I am worried about what's going to happen next though, it appears that the governments want to test wolfbloods and it will be interesting to see how the pack's lives change. What will Katrina's dad think of the fact that Jana is a wolfblood? Where will Imara and Dr Whitewood work? Will Mr Jeffries become the next JK Rowling? Will Matei, TJ and Selina still be able to attend their school? Will Selina be able to continue on her taekwondo or will being a wolfblood be considered an unfair advantage? And what will the wild pack say when they find out and will they be safe?

That ending left me with so many unanswered questions and I don't want to wait a year to find out what happens next!

What did you think?

Thanks for the reviews! If anyone is planning to make a wolfblood series 4 tribute video a good song would be Run Wild by King and Country (it's almost as if it could have been written for wolfblood).


	24. Chapter 24

Selina walked into the Kafe, still reeling from what she'd just seen. They'd attacked him, they'd attacked TJ, and they'd kidnapped Matei too. She wished with all her heart that there was someone that Jana was safe and that she'd have a plan because there was no way she was going to stand by and let her pack be lost.

The door to flat opened suddenly and Selina braced herself instaneously, years of taekwondo training kicking in instinctively. But it was just Jana, she wanted to hug her. Good old Jana, she thought, but she watched as the red haired girl quickly motioned for her to be quiet.

"When I say run, we run," Jana whispered to her, her emerald eyes full of fear.

Selina nodded before they darted soundlessly to the Kafe door, allowing it to swing shut behind them and cursing the sound of the bell. Jana darted around the edge of the building, Selina following her and when they were by the quay side Jana yelled for them to ran.

They must have ran at a good couple of miles before stopping near a small park close to the school. Jana was out of breath, which was completely unusual for her, and had to hold on the edge of a bench to steady herself.

"What's going on?" Selina asked.

Jana was shaking with nerves, "Sweeney, she used to work for Segolia, she was my boss before Imara took over. She's back and she says she wants my help, but she's kidnapped them."

"She'll be coming after us now," Selina said solemnly, "What can we do?"

"Wolfbloods can always find their back," Jana said fiercely, before placing a hand on the grass verge next to her, her eyes glowing bright yellow, her flame like hair blowing in the wind behind her, "They're in some kind of cave. Like a dungeon and Matei..."

"Are they ok?" Selina asked in a panicked voice, "What are they doing to them?"

"I don't know," Jana asked, "Matei was crying but him and TJ look like they are unharmed. We have to get there soon."

"How?" Selina asked.

"We need to find Imara."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"Why didn't you just say we'd do it?" Kara asked infuriated, "Do you really want to be trapped here?"

"I trust Jana," Katrina replied, "I'm not about to betray her. That woman, how can you think that she has Jana and her packs best interests at heart? I'm a part of Jana's pack too now, I'm going to stand by alfalfa, no matter what. She will rescue us and until then we have to not make any hasty decisions."

"I agree with Katrina," Mr Jeffries added, "The bribes, that should be a sign enough that what they are going to do isn't going to be something we like. We should think this out. But we can't do nothing. And I too have a lot of faith in Jana, but she can't save everyone from everything. We have to save ourselves. And if doing the conference is the best thing for everyone, and if it's the only option we have, then we have to do it."

"Exactly," Kay added, "You heard what she said. She wants us to say it's a promo for the book, and that's all, Katrina. How is that hurting Jana or any of the others?"

Katrina shook her, "But how is she going to prove they are humans? What might it involve? That's what we need to think about. And if there's any threat at all... If there's any chance this might hurt Jana and her pack... Then I'm not going to let that happen."

"Katrina," Mr Jeffries said gently, "Neither of the options are going to leave Jana and her pack unharmed. There is going to be some cost. But we have to choose the one we can live with."

"If we don't do this," Katrina said shaking, blinking tears, her voice cracking, "I've just realise. If we don't do this. She'll kill them, won't she?"

Mr Jeffries nodded, "Anyone who is a threat. She'll destroy them."

"And if we do the conference?" Kara asked.

"If it means that Jana and her pack will be allowed to live," Katrina replied, "However, that may be, then we have to do it."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"They're going to what?!" Jana exploded, growling furiously, "No, I won't let them. Matei is my alpha, my enaid cymar alffa, how dare they think they can touch him and get away with it!"

"TJ," Selina added venomously, "If they touch TJ and Matei, they're dead."

"They are messing with the wrong back," Jana replied, eyes flashing gold, "I have my Ancian and Eolas and Selina has her taekwondo. We'll destroy them before the destroy us!"

"Enough!" Imara yelled, "I care about Matei and TJ too but right now we need to find them. We can use the old tunnel system. There are few if any guards there. I'll create a diversion, then you two can go and rescue them. Have they moved them?"

Jana put a hand on the ground and shook her head, "Not yet. But they will soon. I can sense it. Carrie... She was the one who was responsible for the fire... Oh Matei! Matei! No, how dare she? She's going after the wild pack too, no! No don't, don't, you can't!"

Selina hugged the crying Jana, who was almost hysterical.

Jana looked at up at Imara, her golden eyes glistening with tears, "They've agreed to have their wolves taken."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Matei looked over at TJ, nausea rising up again and he heaved, as he stood by one of the walls of the experiment room. Behind him lay the disgustingly clean white chairs and he could hear a monitor beeping somewhere.

"Matei," TJ said, "Putting a hand on his shoulder. My mum promised."

"Promised you!" Matei exclaimed, "She's always betrayed me. First the fire, then trying to Emilia and I sent to Romania... So don't you dear tell me to trust her. I trust Jana, she's fy enaid cymar alffa. She's the one who's going to stand by me for the rest of my life, she's the one who will always protect me. And she will be here... To save the both of us!"

Matei threw up again, trembling with nerves.

"Please sit down, Matei," Dr Whitewood said, "There's no point in worrying yourself. The procedure won't hurt."

"GO TO HELL!" Matei yelled, eyes turning yellow and black veins creeping along his face and hands. TJ had to hold him back from ripping Dr Whitewood to shreds.

The door swung open to reveal Sweeney and her henchman and with the two faces that TJ and Matei dreaded seeing.

"JANA!" Matei yelled, no this couldn't be happening.

"Selina?" TJ added in horror.

They watched as the two girls were pushed towards them and the Jana ran into Matei's arms and Selina into TJs.

Matei had a feeling the things were going to get a billion times worse than they already were.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Matei almost transformed and jumped through the back window screen of the car, but Selina pulled him back before he could injure himself. Instead he punched at the window, yelling the name of his soulmate over and over again as they drove further and further away.

He couldn't get the images out of his mind- Jana refusing to get into the car, then her closing the door- just as Matei's arms outstretched towards her, and then the guards grabbing her and pulling her away.

"Whatever happens she remains our alpha," Matei cried, tears running down his cheeks, sobs tearing him apart, "Whatever happens, got it?"

Selina and TJ nodded.

"Always," TJ promised, "We'll never forget what she did for us."

Selina blinked away tears, "She's the best alpha we could ever hope for."

Imara nodded, "If anyone is going to get out of this mess, it will be Jana. Now we have to honour her sacrifice and go somewhere safe, ok?"

"The den," TJ replied, "No one except us knows about that place."

"And scents are harder to track near running water," Selina added, before looking down at Matei's hand, "And we have medical supplies there."

Matei looked down at his hand, it was bloody and red and bruises and he was sure it was broken because it throbbed like crazy. But he didn't care, because this was nothing compared to the pain Jana would experience when she lost her wolf. He was sure of that.

And what would happen next? Jana would provide the blood sample, and the video would be dismissed as a hoax but life would never go back to normal. Jana would be destroyed, the pack would never be the same again. They would never be able to trust Segolia, even if they were no longer at war with them. What would Jana's life be like? Would she even want to live?

Matei shuddered at the thought, would she end up as disturbed as Carrie? Blaming her wolf for everything bad that had happened in her life. No, no, he wouldn't allow it, he would teach her to love herself again.

The Jeep pulled up outside the den and with Selina's help Matei clambered down, almost collapsing onto the ground.

"Let's just get inside," Imara said, "We just have to wait for Jana."

Matei collapsed at the mention of her name, "I failed her, I should have been the one, I failed her."

TJ and Selina helped to pick him up and half dragged him to the den and down the dark narrow corridors.

"If Jana could hear you right now," TJ said, "Jana might be our alpha, but you're her alpha. Until she gets back you're in charge, Matei. So you need to hold it together."

Matei sat down on one of the crate boxes with a sigh, "This is me, holding it together."

Selina placed a hand gently on Matei's shoulder, "I know this isn't really for me to be asking but, all those jokes Jana's dad made, was there ever any truth in them?"

Matei shook his head, "No. Jana and I... We were never like that... I was so afraid of what my foster parents would say... "

Imara shook her head, "Now isn't the time. Jana will come back for us as soon as she can. We need to plan what we're going to do next."

"We'll go to the wild pack," Matei said, "I need to make sure Emilia will be safe."

"And Alric needs to know that his daughter is human now," TJ added glumly.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK  
"Jana," Dr Whitewood said as the young girl cried and fought against the serum, "Jana, everything's going to be ok."

"Mum!" Jana yelled out, her eyes staring blankly into the space around her, "Mum! Please, they're killing me."

Dr Whitewood tried to hold back tears, she whispered quietly to Jana,"I didn't take your wolf away Jana."

"Mum, where are you?! They've killed her, they've killed my wolf!" Jana cried out again, tears running down her face, "Mum, mum!"

"Jana, please," Dr Whitewood whispered, "You can trust me. We'll get out of her, go to the pack, we can find your mum and dad and tell them you're ok. That everything's going to be ok."

Dr Whitewood tried to hold Jana still and the young girl, after a few moments appeared to give in, from exhaustion mostly, and her eyes closed.

"What's going on?" the guard asked, "Is she ready to be moved?"

"Of course not," Dr Whitewood said in disbelief, "She's hallucinating. I need more time."

"We don't have any more time," the guard, "She's needed in half an hour."

Dr Whitewood shook her head, "Jana. Her name is Jana. The very least you can do is call her by her name."

The guard sighed, "Jana will need to be there in half an hour."

"They'll have to wait," Dr Whitewood said, "If we move her now, it might cause serious damage. Her wolf cells are still being destroyed and her immune system is dangerously volatile. Miss Sweeney should have given us more time. I don't know what state Jana will be in in half an hour's time. I need more equipment. If anything happens..."

"Are you saying she might die?" the guard asked panicked, "That Jana might die."

"Yes," Dr Whitewood said, as Jana all of sudden woke up, her golden eyes glowing with shock, black veins standing out even more against her pale skin, and she started taking raspy short breaths as if she was choking.

The guard looked at Dr Whitewood in horror before darting out of the door.

"Jana!" Dr Whitewood exclaimed in panic, "Dear God, please tell me that the serum doesn't have this effect on wild wolfbloods."

Jana coughed slightly, before looking up at Doctor Whitewood apologetically, "I was just trying to help."

Dr Whitewood shook her head, "Don't ever scare me like that again."

Jana smiled sadly, "You're going to have to tell how you did it. I thought I was going to loose my wolf forever. Thank you."

"There isn't time for this right now," Dr Whitewood said, helping Jana up and hurrying her towards the door, "I'll explain more when we get to the car."

Jana nodded, wobbling a little, and realising that her fake hyperventilation must have been a little too good. She lead the way out of the door and with in seconds encountered the guard.

"You!" he exclaimed running towards her, but Jana was ready. She didn't even need to transform.

She grabbed at his neck roughly, twisting it painfully and slamming his head again the wall, until he crumbled to the floor.

Dr Whitewood looked on horrified.

"A little something Meinir taught me," Jana replied with a grim smile, "No we need to put him in that cupboard."

Dr Whitewood grabbed the door to the old broom cupboard as Jana dragged the man by his feet and then closed the door once he was inside.

"Let's go," Jana said.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Jana picked at her jacket miserably. The serum, even though just a placebo really, had awoken memories that she'd buried deep for years and she couldn't help but cry a little just at the shock of everything that had just happened and also at the memories of her mum that haunted her now.

Dr Whitewood looked over at the young girl with worry, something had happened back there and although the serum hadn't affected Jana's wolf, it had caused some kind of immune reaction. In an ideal situation she would have insisted on Jana resting for at least a day and being observed closely. Not to mention the stress, and the impact it had had on Jana. She sensed the young wolfblood was already suffering some kind of post traumatic stress disorder from what Imara had accidently said about Jana having a lot of nightmares about the incident with Kincaid.

"Your mum," Dr Whitewood began, "I didn't meet her when we visited the wild pack."

Jana looked away, beginning to sob even more loudly, "She died when I was four. There was car crash... Humans driving too fast... Mummy was out hunting..."

Dr Whitewood winced at Jana saying 'Mummy', "I'm so sorry, Jana."

"It's ok," Jana replied, brushing away her tears, "You didn't know."

"She'd be proud of you," Dr Whitewood told Jana, "Proud of what you did to protect your pack."

Jana smiled, before bursting out in tears again, and Dr Whitewood stopped the car, hugging the young girl.

"We'll fix this," she reassured her, "Your pack, all of us, and then it will all be over. And you'll be free of Segolia and be able to live your life however you want. You don't have to be afraid."

Jana looked up miserably, "I just want it all to be over. I wish I'd stayed in the wild. It would be the closest I'd be to mum and dad and my family."

"When it's all over," Dr Whitewood said, "There will be time to visit the wild pack, I promise. But first we have to defeat Segolia."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Matei hugged Jana again, feeling her heartbeat again his, taking in her scent, knowing that her wolf was still there and he could still sense that, and he felt overjoyed. He kissed her again and again in relief.

"Are you sure about this Jana?" Imara asked, "This is a massive decision. I'll stand by you no matter what."

"We all will," TJ replied, "Segolia's obsessed with the secret and you're right all this hiding and lying it's only hurting us and hurting humans too."

"I agree," Matei said, "They'll stop at nothing to destroy anyone they see as a threat. So much for the company policy of protecting humans and wolfbloods. They let down Carrie, us, my parents and they threatened Emilia and the wild pack. We have to do what's going to protect the most people."

"And living in fear is only going to keep on destroying us," Jana added, "The more we live as victims, the more we become victims. Humans like Katrina and Matei's foster parents, Tom and Shannon and Mr Jeffries and Doctor Whitewood here, they've proven that humans can be trusted. And as for Kara and Kay, they only acted out of fear. Fear of the unknown. But that's only because no one has even explained to them what we are and we haven't had a chance to show them what it means. If people knew how much like them we are... They'd have nothing to be afraid of... Nothing to make up scary stories about... And we could all be protected."

"Jana's right," TJ said, "It's ignorance that's causing all of these problems. But if people were no longer ignorant then there would be no problem at all."

"So we go now," Jana nodded, "Thank you Dr Whitewood."

"Just be careful," she said to them.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Katrina stared on in shock as the five wolves walked through the conference room, apparently unaffected by the flashing lights of the cameras and screams of the news reporters. They walked up onto the stage, TJ and Selina first and then Matei and Imara, Jana followed last, letting her pack past, before jumping up onto the desk. Causing shock waves to be tangibly felt throughout the room.

"Oh my god," Katrina said in shock, "They're going to tell everyone."

Jana leapt from the table onto the stage below, changing swiftly from wolf to human. Her pack transformed too at the same time, rising quickly from the ground and looking around them cautiously.

"You want the truth," Jana began defiantly, "Here it is."

Then the questions started a hundred or so at once. Katrina could see how overwhelmed they were, how Jana looked back and forth at TJ and Matei but none of them knew what to say. She saw how Matei took Jana's hand, but he was unable to reassure her at all.

"STOP!" Katrina yelled darting in front of them, Jana giving her a shocked and worried look, "These are my friends. They might not be human. But they are my friends. You have no right bombard them like this. They will answer your questions- one at a time."

The audience looked up in shock before taking their seats.

Jana rushed over to Katrina, hugging her, "Are you ok?"

"Yeah," Katrina said, "Are you going to be able to handle this? What you just did..."

"I'll help her," Matei said, "We all will, but it would be good if you could stay, I think having a human in our pack, it might help them cope a little better."

Matei took Jana's hand a led her to one of the chair, sensing that she was about to crumble from the stress of the past couple of days.

"Thank you," TJ said to Katrina, "We owe you big time."

Katrina smiled, "Well you are my most loyal customers."

The crowd waited for the wolfbloods and Katrina to sit before asking their questions. Then they began quickly, one after the other.

Are you aliens?

Are you a science experiment?

Where do you live?

How many wolfbloods are there?

Are you dangerous?

Who were the other wolfbloods in the video?

Is Segolia a wolfblood mafia?

The questions would have likely gone on until the early hours of the morning if Katrina hadn't put her foot down as soon as she noticed Jana beginning to fall asleep, and the rest of the pack looking as equally tired.

"Thank you for attending," Katrina said, "As you know, in depth interviews will be arranged at a later date-by appointment only."

The crowd nodded as if afraid and in awe of the human girl who stood by the wolfbloods. It was, as Katrina saw it, sort of like learning about a man who has been raised by and lived with lions his whole life. You expect him to be part lion however illogical that is, and at the same time you are surprised by the twist of events.

The crowd began to pack away their notebooks and cameras as Katrina and Dr Whitewood helped the wolfbloods from the stage. Outside were three cars- Dr Whitewood's, Imara's and another, infamously familiar van.

Matei shook his head, as he put an arm around Jana, who was barely able to stay awake, "Couldn't we have got a bit more of a classy get away car?"

Katrina smiled, but her smile quickly disappeared as her father climbed out of the car. She was aware of Jana shifting awkwardly behind her.

"We need to talk," Mr McKenzie said simply before Jana, Katrina and Matei climbed into the van.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Jana picked at her jacket with worry, something that didn't go unnoticed by Katrina and her father who exchanged worried glances themselves.

"How long did you know?" Mr McKenzie asked his daughter.

"Only two days," Katrina replied, "Dad you can't fire Jana, or force her out of the flat, I won't let you."

"Katrina," her father began, "Jana's your friend. And I saw what you did, standing up for all of them like that. She's as much your friend as Kay and Kara are. You might not have known each other for as long, but you mean a lot to each other. Jana might not be human, but she has a lot of humanity. Just because she howls at the moon every month and has a tail doesn't mean that she's a different person. I just hope that I can find some more wolfblood employees, because I swear that lot yesterday were giving you a run for your money, Katrina."

Katrina rolled her eyes, "So Jana can stay and work at the Kafe?"

"Of course!" Mr McKenzie answered, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "And Jana?"

Jana woke up a little, and tried to smile slightly, but was still worried.

"Keep up the good work."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK  
Jana slept next to Matei as the sun poured in through her window. She hadn't even had a chance to pull the curtains before crashing, and evidently none of her pack had the energy to either. Katrina, Selina and TJ had crashed on cushions and bean bags on the floor around her. The Kafe would be closed all day, there was no way that any of them was in any state to be working, and then they needed to plan for their first pack meal later that night.

Jana fidgeted a little, waking up Matei, who had his arms around her.

"Good morning," he whispered, as Jana blinked slowly before grimacing at the bright light coming through her window.

"Morning," Jana replied groggily, rubbing her eyes, "They finally stopped calling I guess?"

Matei nodded, looking at his phone, the last call from the newspapers had been at midnight. Now they had a day free before the reporters started coming again to ask their questions.

Jana coughed a little and Matei stroked her hair as she rested against his shoulder.

"The serum," she began, "It's still working its way out of my system."

Matei kissed her hair, "Sleep. You'll feel better soon."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"What did Sweeney want?" Matei asked, as Jana walked through the door, looking flustered. The rest of the pack stared up at her expectantly.

"She wanted to warn me," Jana replied, "That we're at danger from wolfbloods as well as humans. Segolia has collapsed apparently. She thinks I made the wrong decision."

"Instead of letting her remove your wolves?" Katrina asked, "She's a fine one to talk."

Jana smiled, "I understand why she thinks the way she does, but I still think we made the right decision."

"Too right," TJ said, "The more humans know the less they'll be afraid of us."

"You're right," Selina said, "But I think we need a change of image. Like I said before, we can't show people around the den when it looks so gloomy."

"You need Tunisian sandcastles," Katrina suggested.

"And sorry Matei but the poster has got to go," TJ replied, "'Welcome to the dark side, we have cookies' doesn't really inspire confidence."

Jana smiled, "Selina's right. We need to fix the den, not only for the interviews, but for us too. We need better lighting and, yes, Matei, that poster needs to go."

Matei sighed, rolling his eyes, "Fine. But can we at least get a book case."

"And we could get posters for Mr Jeffries book," Kay suggested.

"And a coffee machine," Selina added.

"Definitely," Jana agreed.

"You have to let us help with the colour scheme," Kay insisted.

Jana smiled, "Of course."

Matei shook his head, "If it looks like the van..."

Katrina looked at him as ferociously as any alpha would do, "Don't you dare hate the van. It's taking you back to the wild pack tomorrow, remember?"

"Tomorrow?!" Jana asked in surprise.

"We need to tell them," Matei answered grimly.


	25. Chapter 25

**Two weeks later**

"All I'm saying is that I think we have an image problem," Jana began as her pack stared back at her, only half interested. In all fairness they had been having this discussion for the best part of three hours.

She looked around at the den. In the past two weeks it had undergone a massive redecoration. Gone were the crummy glow sticks, instead there was one main light in the central room and several spot lights along the corridor. The walls were decorated in a mixture of greens, dark blue and Tunisian sandcastle (Matei, Jana and Katrina were never going to agree on colour schemes). Matei had even agreed to take down the 'dark side' poster and Katrina had put up a Dalai Lama quote poster in its place, to make the space feel more Zen, apparently. There was one large couch, instead of the wooden crates and several bean bags in various neon colours. Matei had insisted on a good quality bookshelf as well, which was already nearly filled.

"I agree," Katrina said, "Like I've always said. Matei- you layer far too much for autumn- and TJ- what is even going on?"

Matei rolled his eyes and TJ gave Katrina an insulted glare.

Selina smiled, "At least Jana and I got the seal of approval."

"The van," Matei said clearly enunciating each word, "The van."

"Back off," Katrina replied moodily, threatening Matei with a hair pin from her bag, "Back off or I swear..."

"Enough!" Jana yelled, "I'm being serious here. The problem is humans still see us as a threat. When they hear wolfbloods they think of werewolves not people who are just like them. We need to show them what we have in common with them. How our lives are the same as theirs."

"I agree," Matei said, "But is this really the only way?"

"It makes sense," Selina argued, "I like the idea. It's the best way to get new information out there quickly- and to as many people as possible."

"Exactly," Jana replied, "And tomorrow would be a great day to start, what with it being the dark moon and us all having that movie night planned."

Matei sighed loudly, "I think there are better ways. The interviews are going well."

Jana nodded, that was true, she had to admit to herself. Although it was tedious getting asked a billion times if she preferred pork or lamb, and why she had decided to use that particular conference to reveal the secret. What was worse was the magazines- wolfblood fashion, q and a's, and possibly the worst- a special two page spread in Teen Vogue about how Matei was the 'hottest new thing' with poorly concealed innuendoes about hot dogs and howling. After reading that Jana had been angry for days.

"Isn't that Scotland yard guy coming back tomorrow?" Selina asked, "It's just I want to ask him about positions for wolfbloods in the civil service. You know, international relations? He promised it would be mentioned in parliament."

Jana smiled, "Yes, tomorrow at 3pm."

"So you'll be at the Kafe for the morning and lunch time rush?" Katrina asked with a sarcastic eye roll, "That's so typical of you Jana."

Jana laughed loudly and even Matei managed a grin.

"We all need to be here," Jana said, "Even you can come along if you want to Katrina."

"For moral support," TJ said, "Jana is terrified of needles."

Jana rolled her eyes, "TJ! How many times have I told you about bad mouthing your alpha?"

TJ grinned, "Sorry, miss."

Jana shook her head, "They're saying it's just going to be some routine blood work. They got all of the DNA samples they wanted last time."

Matei reached for Jana's hand, and stroked it comfortingly.

"Did they get back to you about that?" Katrina asked carefully.

Jana shook her head, "But I already know from Dr Whitewood that they'll be surprised. I just need to protect the wild pack. Until I get a chance to return. If my dad agrees, if I can get him to trust me, then I can come clean about why my DNA is so different from other wolfbloods. I won't have to lie about being from a genetic defective line of wolfbloods."

TJ winced, "I don't think that story will ever work out too well. You did snap at a reporter that you were an alpha's daughter and that your favourite meat is venison because it's the only right thing for the 'ruling classes' to eat."

Jana rolled her eyes, "That happened once, days ago."

Matei smiled, "But do you know how painful it was? I couldn't go on Tumblr for days without seeing pictures of Jarry. Or redship as it's now being called."

"Jarry?" Katrina asked, "Oh, Jana and Prince Harry. Well you did bring that one on yourself, Jana."

"You would think they'd have more important things to worry about," Jana complained, "What does it matter what make up I wear or what clothes I buy or whether I follow a paleo-litho-tonic diet?"

TJ smiled, "The big guys are the ones who are worried about the science and the security side of things. Everyone else has to make sense of it in a much simpler way."

"I don't understand," Matei added in some confusion, "If you don't want people asking about every part of your life, then why do you like this plan so much?"

"Because it answers all of the questions," Jana said.

"So what's the name going to be?" TJ asked, "Keeping up with the Wolfbloods, Wolftards, Wolf-ella?"

Jana rolled her eyes, "No, we need a catchy but sophisticated name for the vlog."

"Give me strength," Matei said with a sigh, "Are we actually going to do this?"

"Look, you're already the wolfblood equivalent of Zalfie," Selina began, "You two can't even walk down the street without attracting at least one photographer or journalist."

"It's not all bad, Matei," Jana said to him, "Remember how you wanted to be a book vlogger a few years ago? Well you could do weekly book reviews for the channel?"

Matei shrugged, "I guess."

"And we could do a cooking series," Katrina added, "And I absolutely want to do a wild wolfblood outfit of the day video for the pack."

"And I could do a taekwondo video," Selina added, "And maybe TJ and I could do music recommendations."

"That's all great, guys," Jana said, "I think they're all great ideas. But I was thinking more about daily vlogging. I mean what we're usually like on a day to day basis. That's why I wanted to start tomorrow. Dark moon days are the days when wolfbloods are most vulnerable, it will be good to remind people that we're not all tough all the time."

Matei grimaced, "I still think it's too much of a risk. And what do you think the wild pack will say, when you suggest putting them on camera?"

Jana shrugged and then sighed, "It's going to be an interesting conversation."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Amanda looked at Matei worriedly as he closed the front door behind him and shuffled into the kitchen, dragging his feet. The past few weeks had been hard on them- first Emilia going to live with the wild pack and all the worry and panic that had caused, and then the big reveal. Amanda had been cooking spaghetti Carbonara practically every day to try to cheer up Matei. But it was obvious just how much stress he was under.

"How did the pack meeting go?" Amanda asked, in as steady voice as possible, "Is Jana still worrying about the blood tests tomorrow? I've got some instrumental meditation music CDs that might help."

Matei smiled, "I'm sure she'll be fine. The pack meeting was ok."

"Sure?" Amanda asked, "Because your tail's been dragging on the floor ever since you came in."

Matei rolled his eyes, it was only a matter of time before his foster parents started making terrible wolf jokes.

"It's just," Matei began, "Jana has this idea. She wants to turn us into vloggers. You know, filming our daily lives, to try at make us seem more human."

Amanda bit her lip in thought, "It's not a terrible idea. I think it would help people see that wolfbloods aren't so much of a threat. After all, what helped John and I cope with the news was being able to realise that you and your sister were still the same people we love."

Matei nodded, "I just hate the idea of getting into a big argument with Jana. I mean, you know how much I love her, and how much I'd do anything for her, but I don't like the idea of having my private life broadcast to the world."

Amanda sighed, "Matei. I'll be honest with you. If you didn't want your private life broadcast to the world then you shouldn't have wolfed out at that conference. It's only normal for humans to want to know everything about wolfbloods and you have to accept that for at least a while you're not going to get much of a break. What Jana's suggesting is a pre-emptive strike where you'll get to control what the humans see. It's a compromise that I think you'll find a lot easier to deal with."

Matei grimaced, "It still doesn't feel right to me."

"Give it a go," Amanda suggested, "If Jana's decided to do this then the best thing is to support her decision. You can decide later on if you want to be a part of the videos or not. But if Jana's made this decision for her life then you should be there for her no matter if you agree with her choice or not."

Matei nodded, "So you're saying that I should support her, even if I don't agree with her decision?"

Amanda nodded, "Exactly. Now come on, let's get dinner started, we have a lot of packing to do for your trip to the wild pack and knowing how you are on dark moon days we better start tonight.

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"And here we have a wolfblood in her natural environment," TJ said to camera, in his best David Attenborough voice "Sitting on her sofa, watching netflix, and stuffing her face with bacon."

Jana launched a pillow at TJ, and the pack cheered when it hit TJ right on target.

"And here comes the alpha male," TJ continued as Matei walked into the living room area, "Carrying with him a bag of fizzy worms, a key part of the courting ritual for the two alphas..."

"TJ!" Jana yelled.

"You can see the lone male approaching the alpha female as we speak," TJ replied, "Passing her the gift and... Guys, seriously, kids watch this!"

Jana rolled her eyes, as Matei stopped kissing her, his arm still wrapped around her shoulders.

"Well at least it got you to shut up," Selina answered.

Jana laughed, "I told you not to muck around TJ! This isn't a joke. Do you now how long it takes to edit a video?"

"How are the views looking?" Matei asked.

"Three million subscribers already," Jana said, "And five million views on last night's video. The new channels even reported feedbacks been generally quite good. Our younger viewers seem to be loving it. Although I'm going to have to make a cooking tutorial for last night's dinner and spend at least the next two hours replying to questions in the comments section."

"I hope not," Katrina replied, "It's movie night."

"Please tell me we're not watching mean girls again," Matei replied grumpily.

"No this time around it's Jana's turn to choose," Katrina said, before going to the kitchen to grab some more popcorn and the various sausage rolls, hot-dogs and chicken nuggets that they'd spent the day preparing."

"Please not Frozen," TJ begged, "Do know how difficult it is living in a house with two female alphas who both love that movie?"

"Wait, Imara likes Frozen?" Selina asked in disbelief.

TJ nodded, "I know, I know. It's so embarrassing."

"Actually I was going to choose Mulan," Jana said.

"What is the obsession with Disney Princesses?" TJ asked, as he grabbed a handful of popcorn.

"We should so go to Disney World for Christmas," Katrina said, "Maybe Emilia, Gwyn and Cadwr could come with us too."

"And Aran," Jana said, "He loved that video of it's a small world and he was so happy when we took him to the Disney store and the shopping complex."

"When did that happen?" TJ asked, "I didn't think he had much time for shopping when he was here with Meinir."

"Meinir insisted on getting gifts for the cubs," Jana replied, "The packs changed a lot now. I was the one who was responsible for bringing the dream catcher obsession to the pack. Before that they hadn't even heard of Native American culture, would you believe? Now my father no longer has any strict rules about human possessions. If you can carry it, then you can keep it."

"Do you know when the pack will be moving on to their winter territory?" Matei asked, "It's just I want to make sure Emilia is able to visit for Christmas."

"You don't need to worry," Jana said, taking his hand in hers, "Aran and my father will be coming here for Christmas too with cubs, of course, they'll make sure Emilia isn't left behind."

Matei smiled, "I can't wait to see her. I wonder how she's doing, if she's liking to wild pack. I just hope she isn't too home sick."

"Don't take this the wrong way, Matei," Jana answered, "But she likely won't have a lot of time to think about home. When she moved to the wild she didn't know Ancian or Eolas, they'll be prioritising teaching her that. Then she'll be learning how to hunt, how to make tools and ritual decorations, repair tents, stuff like that. And she'll have so much to learn about the pack traditions."

"And then there's a her lessons about being a fire walker," Katrina added, "Didn't your father say he was going to contact another pack to find an expert?"

Jana nodded, "Wild packs live a good distance from each other most of the time, but they are connected through marriage alliances."

Matei went pale at that, "They... They... They won't make Emilia marry will they? She's only thirteen!"

Jana smiled sympathetically, "She's young even by wolfblood standards, and fire walker or not, she is still only a delta wolf at the moment. She'll be allowed to marry whoever she likes, whenever she likes, unless my father decides to make her his heir of course, which is unlikely, but even then she'll still have a lot of choice over her alpha."

Matei let out a relieved sigh, "I feel so dumb for wanting to run off and become wild before. It's definitely not an easy life style. I can't believe I was so naive."

"Well," Jana said with a smile, "That's because you didn't know me before."

"You know we're still filming right?" TJ said.

"Talking about that," Jana began, "I might be doing something quite big tomorrow, if everything goes to plan."

Katrina and the rest of the pack looked at her in confusion, "What?"

Jana sighed, "Filming the wild pack."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Rhydian cussed again as he reached voice-mail and threw the phone at the wall. Luckily it wasn't his IPhone otherwise it would have shattered. How could Jana be so stupid?

"What was she thinking?" Emma yelled, "First revealing the secret, then making vlogs about it. Especially after everything that happened with Shannon when she filmed us. The secret was secret for a reason. I've tried to understand, honestly I have, but all she's done is put us in danger. It's sheer luck that we're living out in such a remote area. If people knew about us, can you imagine?"

Dan nodded in agreement, "We took her in. She might not have been in our pack, but she almost good as was. I thought we made it clear to her about how important the secret was. Now not only has she revealed it, but she's adding salt to the wound."

"Like I've always said," Emma added, "Wild wolfbloods don't belong in the human world. They don't know what it's like. The best thing Jana can do now is to move back to the wild pack with her Newcastle pack and keep her head down."

"Enough!" Rhydian snapped, "How is keeping Jana away from the human world going to fix anything? At the moment the only wolfbloods they know about are the ones in Jana's pack and working for Segolia. We're safe."

"Are you forgetting that it was Segolia who set up our move to Canada?" Emma asked, "Our names will be discovered soon enough and with Mr Jeffries' novel as well. Don't think for a second that people won't find out who we are."

Maddy trudged grumpily into the living room, and sat down on one the sofas, "We thought we could trust Jana. I guess we were all wrong."

"Jana's naive," Rhydian argued, "Not dangerous. You've been keeping the secret for all your lives, your family has been living alongside humans for hundreds of years. You know what the burning times were like for wolfbloods and your family survived them. You know what it's like to live with humans for years and years, Jana doesn't. She needs our help. Otherwise she's going to keep on making these terrible mistakes again and again."

"No," Emma said, "This time we're staying out of it. She's gone too far."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

"The usual?" Kay asked half heartedly, as Matei walked glumly into the Kafe, his hands in his coast pockets.

Matei smiled, "Yes, please."

"So today's the big adventure?" Kara asked as she joined Kay at the counter, "I hope the weather stays good for you. It's a five hour hike isn't it?"

Matei nodded, with a grin, "According to Jana it's just like a walk to the corner shop for her."

"Yes, well," Kay argued, "She gets to run around in wolf form, so it probably takes less time for her."

"I wonder how fast wolfbloods can run?" Kara asked curiously, "I mean Rhydian was always very fast in human form, imagine him as a wolf though."

"Oh, God," Kay said, "I need to be able to focus on my work today, not thinking about Rhydian as a wolf."

Matei raised his eyebrows momentarily before Katrina and Jana walked through the Kafe door, bearing several carrier bags.

"Snacks," Jana explained, "And some proper hiking gear, now that the snows settled, duffle coats and ballerina pumps aren't going to cut it."

"And not to mention that your boots were beginning to resemble emmental cheese," Katrina added.

Jana nodded, "I got these for you."

Jana passed Matei a plan wait carrier bag, inside was a blue fleece jacket, and a copy of a book by his favourite author. One that he'd been saving up for.

Matei smiled, "Thank you, Jana."

"It's a three hour car journey," Jana said, "I didn't want you to get bored. And we are staying for four days, and wildies aren't exactly big on libraries."

Matei smiled, "Well, just give me a few days and I'll convert them."

Jana laughed, "I noticed you got coffee again. I thought you were cutting down."

"I'm not having any coffee for three days," Matei said with a grimace, "Please let me have at least one before we go. Do you want me to turn into a grouchy old wolf?"

The Ks laughed, as Jana and Matei made mock snarling and howling noises at each other.

"Thanks for this," Katrina said, "I owe you big time."

"Me too," Jana added.

"Well," Kara added, "So long as you're letting us help with that wolfblood make over video then we're more than happy to help."

"Now stop flirting you two" Katrina yelled, "We need to get moving."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Matei turned down the radio, earning an eye roll from Katrina and a smile for TJ and Jana who were sitting in the back of the car with him.

"What?" Matei asked defensively, "How am I supposed to appreciate an epic battle scene with One Direction blaring out?"

Katrina shook her head, "I wonder what's going to happen if we arrive at the clearing and you're only fifty pages away from the end. I'm not going to sit around waiting for you."

"This is the problem these days," Matei complained, "No one has any respect for reading enthusiasts. It's all movies and TV shows. It's horrific that most of the people in my class at school have never read George Orwell or Harper Lee or even Salinger, and I don't even like Salinger."

Katrina let out a sigh, "This is going to be a long day."

"Normal wolfblood- freaking out at only having vegan options for dinner," TJ began mockingly, "Matei- freaking out at a lack of good literature on the school syllabus."

"Well at least Mr Jeffries's sequel is going to be out next week," Jana said.

"I feel sorry for Mr Jeffries," TJ said, "He doesn't realise what he's letting himself in for."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Meinir pushed Aran over, and he landed in the mud with a loud thud. She burst out laughing before offering his a hand and ruffling his hair playfully.

"Aran, Aran, Aran," Meinir said with a disapproving smile, "How many times are you going to ignore my advice about watching your left side?"

Emilia grinned, "Will you teach me that move? It was awesome."

"Of course," Meinir said with a shrug, "But there's no hope left for you little brother."

Aran rolled his eyes, "How do you know that I wasn't letting you win? What with you being human and all."

Meinir narrowed her eyes and pointed an accusatory finger at him, "Because, if you even dared..."

Meinir stopped as she notice Aran sniffing the air.

"They're early," Meinir said, "Ceri and Gerwyn said they wouldn't be here until just before sunset."

"Jana must be setting a hard pace this time," Aran replied, "You remember what she was like, back on moving days."

"Let's put it this way," Meinir replied, "I wish I had elixir of the devil back then. I needed it."

Emilia laughed, grinning merrily, "Matei and Jana! They're going to be here soon? And TJ and Selina and what about Katrina?"

"Find out for yourself, carriad," Meinir said, "Go on."

Emilia nodded obediently, before placing a hand in a tuft of wild grass, feeling the soft damp soil beneath her fingers, she breathed slowly, slowing her heart rate and allowing her mind to merge with the wood around her. And it worked.

She lost her focus for a moment with the joy of finally being able to use Eolas but quickly regained it. There they all were, about three or so miles from the camp. And Katrina was with them, surprisingly enough keeping up a good pace although she was clearly tired and frustrate with Jana for going too fast. As for Matei, he looked quite tired too, but Emilia could sense the excitement flooding through him. TJ and Selina were bickering as usual, and Emilia couldn't help grinning as she heard their argument. It was about some comment TJ had made about Selina was sensible all the time. Emilia felt a little pang in her heart, she had missed their banter.

Meinir looked at her student with immense pride, "See. I told you you'd master it."

"What about Ancian?" Emilia asked.

"Not all wolfbloods can master that," Aran said cautiously, "But now go and run to your brother. I'll go and get Alric."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK  
Jana smiled to the rest of her pack, "We're only a few minutes away. Come on, we'll make it. You should see what feast nights are like! We're going to eat like royalty tonight."

Katrina looked at her incredulously, "You said we were only a a few minutes away half an hour ago."

"Ok," Jana replied, "When I said that before I meant it in wolfblood terms. A few minutes to a wolfblood is significantly longer than a few minutes to a human. Time move much more slowly out here."

"Ok, ok," Katrina said, "But they better not be serving raw meat tonight. I don't want tapeworms."

Jana smiled, "Meinir, Ceri and Gerwyn are visiting the pack for a couple of weeks too. Gerwyn hates raw meat, so you'll be in luck."

"I'm more worried about having to pee behind a bush for the next few days," TJ replied, "And no showers."

"You'll get over it," Jana replied, "And anyway, the no showers thing is actually false. It's just no one likes freezing cold water so we tend not to bother too often."

"And where will we be staying?" Katrina asked, "We didn't bring any tents."

"Don't need to," Jana added, "The pack had a few going spare. Don't worry, it's just my old tent from when I was a kid and the one I was living in until last year when I left. They're massive and they even have carpets."

"Carpets?" Katrina asked.

"Yeah, fur carpets," Jana said, "Alpha's daughters are only allowed the best."

TJ rolled his eyes, "Yes, of course, your majesty. I'm assuming you and your prince consort will be getting a tent all to yourselves?"

"I hope so," Selina replied, "No offence, but I do need a break from you two every now and then."

Matei sniffed the air delicately, Jana following his lead.

He let out a wide grin, tears of happiness glistening in his eyes.

"Go on," Jana said, "Tell my father I'll be along in a moment."

Matei kissed Jana before transforming and darting off into the distance.

"Not that far," Jana added, before almost jumping as her father and Aran landed on the ground beside her.

"You're getting too tame," Aran complained, "Either that or your forgetting all your years of training."

Jana grinned, rolling her eyes and shaking her head, "Good to see you too, Aran."

Her friend hugged her tightly, before Jana turned to her father, bowing slightly, her pack following suit.

"Come here, carriad," Alric said to his daughter, hugging her and kissing her head, "We have much to discuss."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK  
They sat before what Katrina assumed was supposed to be a low dinning table. They were in one Jana's tents, and it was actually quite comfortable. The fur beneath her hands felt soft and relaxing and there were even some decorations. Jana's bow and arrows had been moved from the weapons tent too and had been tied into the side of the tent.

Their sleeping bags and rucksacks had been dumped in one corner of the tent and now Alric, Aran, Meinir, Cadwr and Gwyn, Emilia, Ceri and Gerwyn and the whole of Jana's pack were cramped into the small space.

Katrina watched as Jana ravenously devoured another handful of the red berries and with an encouraging nod from Jana she tried one too, finding it deliciously refreshing and sweet.

Alric smiled, "It's good to see you so healthy, Jana. Even the last time I saw you, I could tell you still weren't yourself, a little too pale, a little feverish. But now, now that's the daughter I remember. Although I do worry about you losing your abilities. You must come to the wild more often, and you must train with Meinir and Aran."

Meinir smiled, "Jana could help with Emilia's lessons. I'm only human and Aran has been lazy of late."

Aran gave Meinir an insulted look, "You've always been a better fighter than me. And I go easy on you because you're my sister."

"You should know better," Alric commanded, "Meinir has never given you a break just because you're her younger brother."

Matei smiled and Emilia looked up at him with utter happiness. They sat together tucked into one of the corners of the tent, Matei sitting with an arm around her shoulders as she explained in hushed tones about everything she had learnt over the past few weeks and nagged him to try all the different foods- even some of the raw meat.

"So you're not mad at me?" Jana asked her father, with concerned eyes.

Alric reached out to stroke Jana's hair, "Your mother. I never did talk about her much, and much less about our life before we had you. I should have, you remind me so much of her. And you're beginning to look more like her too, not just the hair and the eyes, but the way you smile and laugh and the way you don't take any nonsense from anyone. Your mother she wanted me to be more accepting of humans. She felt that one day humans and wolfbloods could work together even. She didn't know about Segolia, but your mother was like Ceri, had a way of knowing things. She would be so proud of you and so disappointed by how afraid I was for so many years-."

"Dad," Jana said, sympathetically, placing a hand on his as tears ran down her face.

"You know that's not true," Gerwyn argued, "Arianne was always so proud of you. Hero worshipped you even."

Ceri smiled, "She was my best friend since we were babies. No matter how many times you were mean to her as a child, she never left you alone. You were true enaid cymar alffas. Nothing you ever did could ever disappoint her."

Gerwyn nodded in agreement, "She'd be happy to see how things have turned out. I don't like how it all happened but, what's done is done. We should focus on creating the kind of world that Arianne wanted to see."

Ceri nodded in agreement, "Jana's right, we can't expect acceptance if we're too afraid to even be noticed. We have to work past our fear now."

"My only concern is how our way of life will be protected," Alric said, "If there are cameras crews descending on us every few minutes we won't be able to carry on with our way of life."

Jana nodded understandingly, "There are laws. But they'll be easier to enforce if people know about the wild pack and are not afraid of it. I know the elders might not approve but the last thing you need is humans stumbling on the pack and attacking you. If they know you exist then you'll be able to live a much more peaceful life than having to hide in the shadows just waiting for an attack."

Meinir nodded in agreement, "It feels good. To have the chance to have my wolf with me in both world, even if she's no longer a part of me, I still can have that in the human world too now. It feels like I'll never really lose her."

Aran smiled, "I agree to be in the video no matter what the elders say. My life is split between the human world and the wild wood and I'm not about to abandon either part of my life. I trust Jana when she says we don't need to."

The cubs nodded too, before Gwyn spoke, "I saw that video, if you don't want humans just to think we're a threat, then you need to help."

Jana looked at Gwyn with stern eyes, not quite believing just how much the cub had spoken out of turn.

"Then it's done," Alric said, "I'll take part in your wild pack q and a video, and the father and daughter one, just so long as you ensure that our way of life is protecting by your human laws."

Jana bowed, "Of course, father. I won't let you down."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Emilia gazed over at the tent, "I thought Matei wouldn't be allowed to stay with Jana tonight. I mean I know they're a couple but still, I thought her father would see it as improper."

"Why?" Cadwr asked in amused confusion, "If they're enaid cymar alffas then they should be living together. In all fairness they should be married, if they aren't already of course."

Emilia frowned, "Amanda and John would bury Matei alive if he and Jana ran off and had a secret wedding."

"You still have so much to learn," Cadwr said with a grin, "Yes, wild wolves have handfasting ceremonies but the actual wedding in itself is a much more private affair."

Emilia looked at Cadwr with a shocked expression.

"Not tonight surely?" Emilia asked.

Cadwr looked back at Emilia with a cheeky smile, noticing her shocked expression and then looking back again in the direction of his former alpha's tent.

"We have an expression in the wild pack," he began, "If the tent is rocking, don't come a knocking."

BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK

Jana kissed Matei fiercely, earning a laugh from the young boy. It was good to finally get some time to themselves. And although Matei had been timid at first about being too intimate around Jana with the pack so close by Jana had reassured him that the pack would be more worried about them not being overly romantic towards each other than concerned about Jana's innocence.

That's why Matei was astounded when he was told that he was going to be sleeping in Jana's tent for the duration of their stay and giving a supportive pat on the back not only from Aran and Meinir but even from Alric.

"Matei," Jana said with a smile, "Don't be so afraid. The others are all asleep."

Matei let out a nervous sigh, "Are you sure about this? Absolutely sure?"

Jana smiled and nodded, "Absolutely. I absolutely want this."

Matei grinned nervously, and Jana reached up to run a hand through his hair, telling his silently to not be so afraid. That she was ok, that the world was going to be ok, and that right now they only belonged to each other, and that was all they should be focused on.

Matei let his nervousness slip away and focused on Jana. He couldn't believe how lucky he was to have someone as amazing as her in his life, someone so beautiful. His enaid cymar alffa. He loved her so much.

Jana looked up at his with loving eyes, the same unspoken words being said, and kissed him passionately.

The moonlight glistened in the sky above them, a small beam shinning through into the tent, illuminating them slightly, the furs beneath them softer than silk and the crickets and owls outside singing the most beautiful melody.

And right then they were the only two wolves in the world.

And all that mattered was that they were true enaid cymar alffas.

And that nothing in the world would ever stop them loving each other.

They would fight together, live together, and walk same the path for the rest of their lives and no one would ever stop them.

Because no matter where the were or what was going on in the world around them

They would always be one.

THE END

Thanks for all of the reviews!

I'm glad you enjoyed my fanfic so much and I hope to write a fanfic for series 5 later on this year.


End file.
